Golden Sunsets
by NotTheMilk
Summary: What happens when Cupid accidentally shoots the Sandman with one of her magic arrows? (I felt Sandy needed more love in the fanfiction world, and I thought it'd be fun to have Cupid be a girl for a change.) Contains SandyXCupid and some mild Frostbite shipping. Image is from suddenlysencha over at tumblr, a wonderful artist who was kind enough to draw Annamore and Sandy for me.
1. Watch Where You Shoot

_Almost done for the day._ A winged young woman thought to herself as she flew over a park, lit by a glowing sunset. It was the kind of sunset that tended to help her work, a beautiful way to end the day. Oranges and pink clouds crossed what was left of the blue sky, with darkness forming around the edges of the horizon. She smiled and settled down on lamp post that hadn't yet turned on. Her name was Annamore C. Upidianalus, but she ended up being known as "Cupid" to most people.

Annamore scanned the ground below her intently, pushing her hair back from her face. Her hair was long and red, matching the feathers of her wings. She wore a silver shirt that wrapped her neck and tied at her low back, leaving room for her wings to move freely, and black loose-fitting pants that moved in the wind. The ties from her shirt were long and almost touched the ground, trailing behind her when she flew like twin tails. Her arrows were carried at her side to not get in the way of her wings, and she was currently fitting an arrow to bow. She'd spotted her last target of the night and was preparing to fire.

"Douglas Farr, you will forever remember today as the day you fell in love." She smiled, drawing back. As she started to release, a stream of gold sand crossed in front of her, startling her. The arrow shot for the target, but instead of striking true it ricocheted off the bench he was sitting on, and flew off into the air.

She stared in shock momentarily, before quickly firing another shot and hitting her target, who had no idea anything happened at all - she was invisible to most. She flew away in a panic to look for her lost arrow. "Never! All my hundreds of years and this... I can't believe this!" Night had already fallen, as it always did in the fall, but this would make her search easier.

Flying in the direction she'd seen it go, she scanned the ground and the trees. Magic gold arrows couldn't hide that easily, considering they glowed. However, she was having no luck. She went a little farther, and finally did see something that glowed gold. Something that also made her heart sink a little. A small cloud of gold sand, with tendrils flying out from it in all directions. The same sand that made her miss for the first time in her long life.

"Oh no. Oh no, oh no!" She flew up and landed on the cloud, and nervously walked up to the owner of it. She knew who it was, but had never met him personally. She didn't work too much at night, and he rarely operated in the day. "Hello? Sandman?" The little golden owner of the cloud turned to her and smiled happily for a second. Moments later a little heart popped up over his head as he stared at her.

Her heart sunk even further. She wasn't used to dealing with the guardians. Her job wasn't kid related, after all, and since most adults didn't believe in Cupid, she was usually alone and unseen. Not that she minded it, her job was an important one, one that tended to help keep the kid population up, so it helped them too. Now, she slowly realized, she might have just struck the oldest of all the guardians with a magic arrow. "Have... I seem to have... Lost an arrow... Have you seen it?" She slowly stammered. The lord high protector of sleep and dreams shook his head at her, and the heart disappeared from over his head. She felt slightly better and walked closer, peering at him carefully. "You know, you should be more careful with this dream sand of yours. It's not good to distract a girl when she's working."

The sandman appeared to think this over, smiled, and nodded. Cupid smiled in return, unable to resist since he appeared so innocent and peaceful. She regretted her action when, spotting her smile, another little heart appeared over his head. He shook his head quickly and it was gone, but she'd already seen. She was in the air instantly, hovering around him. "This isn't good! Did I hit you? Maybe a graze?" He looked amused by her concern, but shook his head and shrugged. "You... Don't think so, but who knows?"

The harbinger of romance felt ready to yank out hair as she fluttered about him. She'd heard he didn't talk, but in this current situation she found it was merely making her more on edge. He went back to his work of sending out dreams, while she flopped down on the edge of the sand cloud, peering down at the ground, resisting the urge to groan. "At least this is as good a place as any to look for it from." Cupid mumbled, more to herself than to the owner of the cloud. After saying that, she realized that asking permission to stay here might be a good idea, but glancing at the Sandman it was easy to see that he didn't mind.

* * *

"Whoa! Sandy, buddy, when did you start hanging out with Cupid?" A very loud, mischievous voice sent her flying awake. Literally. She hadn't known she'd been sleeping until she was awake and flying ten feet above the cloud, looking around in a panic, her hand on an arrow and ready to attack.

Her eyes rested on a young looking white-haired boy. She recognized him as Jack Frost, the newest guardian, and someone she'd met in the past. He had a love for causing snow storms on Valentine's day, which often aided her work instead of hindering it. The look on his face matched the level of mischief in the voice she heard. He was casually leaning on his staff next to Sandy, and looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Jack. Good to see you again." She nodded, landing on the golden cloud again. "It's been a long time."

"Likewise. I'm glad you decided not to shoot me." His eyes met hers, twinkling. "So why are you here? I've never heard of you socializing with... Well, much of anyone."

"I usually try to avoid shooting the Guardians. Well, there was that one time, but that was part of the job, you understand. Er, I'm babbling. Anyways, I make a habit of only shooting those I want to shoot." She couldn't keep a look of embarrassment from her face. "Unfortunately, accidents happen?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and waited for her to continue. "I may have hit the Sandm..." She paused, remembering she heard a different name used on the dream giving guardian. She switched to that. "Sandy... With one of my arrows."

"How would you know?" Jack's voice grew serious as he glanced at his friend, who had mostly started ignoring them to focus on his dreams.

"That's just it. Arrows vanish once they hit someone. They don't leave a mark either, so it's either lost somewhere, which is hard since it couldn't have gone too far, or..." She glanced significantly at the diminutive guardian.

He frowned slightly, deep in thought. "Is it that big of a deal?"

"What?" She asked sharply. "It's a big deal for me. I do have a little professional pride, you know. I'm also concerned that... The object of his potential affections is, well..." Her wings started flapping in agitation, making her rise a few feet.

"I get it. You're afraid he might be falling for you!" His smile returned, and he started laughing.

"Keep it up, kid, and I'll shoot you on purpose." Cupid growled, her drawing fingers twitching.

"No, really. You've been shooting arrows at people for how many hundreds of years and you've never even gone on a date, right?"

"I'm too busy for that. Anyways, that's beside the point!" She retorted, pondering that she now knew why the Easter Bunny found Jack annoying. "Come on, Jack, this is serious!"

"Fine, fine. I'll go talk to North about this." He ran his hand through his hair and floated into the sky.

"What should I do till then?" She glanced back at the source of her problems.

"The same thing you were doing before I got here." He smirked.

"Sleeping?" She glowered at the boy.

"No, enjoying your dreams." With a wink, Jack flew off into the sky, leaving her alone with Sandy again, her cheeks red as she realized that her unexpected nap had been filled with the sweetest dreams she'd ever had.

* * *

She stared distractedly in the direction Jack headed for a minute, then turned to Sandy. "I guess there is no reason for me to hang about, I guess." He met her eyes, smiling, and held up a finger. She waited expectantly, wondering what she was waiting for. He looked like he was concentrating on something, and the cloud around them started to change form. She opened her wings to escape the moving sand, but the Sandman looked at her firmly and held his finger back up. Her wings folded over her back again.

A small, toy like plane formed around them both, with her in the back seat. He pulled a pair of sand formed goggles over his eyes and handed her a pair too. "I'm not sure I'll be able to see with these on." Annamore said, holding them up quizzically. "Besides, I have wings you know.

He turned his head to look at her, allowing stars and the moon to appear over his head. She puzzled over this for a moment. "Are you saying that my wings don't go as high?" He nodded, a golden cheetah appearing over his head now. "Or... As fast?" He smirked, nodding again.

"Oh, now that's just rude. I can go just as fast as anyth-!" The plane sped forward, stealing the rest of her retort from her lungs. Within seconds, they were going so fast her eyes stung from the wind. Maybe the goggles weren't such a bad idea after all. She quickly forced them over her eyes and found, to her surprise, that she could see with them on after all.

She wasn't afraid, she was at home in the sky after all. It was a very new experience though, flying without being in control. It was weird, but she laughed in exhilaration. He was right, her wings weren't capable of getting so high. She looked above them at the moon, now massive as it hung in the sky above them. "Wow, it's so close I could probably touch it." Sandy chuckled silently in front of her. She started thinking as she stared over the edge of the plane. "So, why are we flying around? Shouldn't you be working?"

Sandy pointed behind her, his eyes still focused ahead. She turned and saw trails of dreams streaming from behind the plane. "Pretty. Wish I could work like that." A few minutes later the plane landed on the cloud that she called home. The cloud carried a mirror like pond, surrounded by a garden, and a house that looked from the outside like a stone grotto. Sandy climbed on the wing of his plane and extended a hand to her. Shaking her head ruefully, Annamore accepted it and climbed out of her seat. "Should I be concerned that you know where I live?"

He smiled innocently at her, still holding her hand in his. He waved his free hand and a dream appeared. "Oh. I guess that it does make sense for you to know where I live then. And where I... Sleep." That was awkward, she thought to herself. She tried stepping away to hop down only to find her hand was not being freed just yet. Sandy raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, much like an old-fashioned gentleman, before turning around and climbing back into the plane.

Rattled, she flew into her home, threw down her bow and arrows, and resisted the urge to whack her head on the wall. "Why me..."

Later that night, well after she'd gone to sleep, Jack and North discussed the problem. North decided that the best thing to do was meet Cupid in person, preferably with the other guardians in tow. "Tomorrow night, Jack. We will invite her here. I could send the Yeti's, they do a good job getting people!"

"Hold on there, big guy. Don't send Yeti's to pick up a pretty lady. How about we take the sled and just pick her up tomorrow night." Jack waved his hands to hold his large friend back from his overabundant enthusiasm. "Everyone loves the sleigh, right? Isn't that what you always say?"

"Oh! Very good. But how will we find her?" North asked, reaching for a cookie. "We have no way of contacting her like we do the other guardians."

"Easy, we find Sandy." The white-haired youth grinned. "I have a feeling he's going to attempt to spend a lot of time with her."

"You think he has it bad?" The big man laughed cheerfully.

"North, he didn't even shush her."


	2. Pretty Smooth for a Little Guy

**I'm sorry this chapter is so long - it's got backstory in it that's rather dark, and I didn't want to end on an entirely sad note. - **Not The Milk

* * *

The next morning Annamore awoke to a perfectly normal day, compared to the oddities of last night. She felt like her dreams were a touch nicer than usual, much like her unexpected nap the previous day, but considering who had a crush on her that was probably normal.

While helping herself to a quick breakfast, she scanned a magic scroll that appeared every day with a list of names and locations. She had no idea where the scroll came from, or who or what came up with the list, but she'd been getting it ever since the day her wings grew and she became Cupid. The assumption was that the Man in the Moon had something to do with it. It was a shorter list than yesterdays, so there wouldn't be a need to be out late so long as her targets were easy to find.

She walked to the door and peeked out cautiously. No sign of the Sandman, good. She stepped out and stretched her wings in the morning sun. Glancing at the list one last time, she broke into a run and jumped off her cloud, free-falling a little ways before opening her wings and gliding off to her first target.

The day went by smoothly, and she made it through her list in record time. With hours of sunlight left to the day, she flew back to her cloud to garden. Annamore's home tended to stay in the warmer climates, although she could move it at whim. Benefits of being a magical being, she supposed. She preferred being able to grow year around. This had the added bonus of bringing an odd amount of birds and butterflies to her cloud, making it seem peaceful.

She lost track of time as she picked fruit, plucked the few weeds that somehow made it into her garden, and tended to the basic needs of the plants she cared for. She had only just registered that it was sunset when a golden, glowing butterfly fluttered in front of her face, followed by a few more. "... Seriously?" She raised an eyebrow, glancing up at the source of the pretty creatures. Sandy cheerfully waved at her. "I don't know why you want to have me hanging about while you work. It's not like I can help."

An arrow appeared over his head now. "You found it?!" She was next to him in a second, elated. He shook his head and motioned around him. "I guess you're right, it can't hurt to have another look around. No letting me nap this time, though, OK?"

He saluted her and wandered to the middle of his sand cloud as it moved away from her cloud. This time she didn't fall asleep, but after an hour or so of staring at the ground from the clouds edge, hoping for some unlikely proof that she didn't hit Sandy with her arrow, she heard the jingling of bells and a booming voice. "Oh ho! You were right, Jack! No need for Yeti's!" She spun around to see Santa's sleigh heading right for them.

"This is too much!" She dodged the galloping reindeer as they came in for a landing. "Hey, where did you get your license!"

"A license? Baah! So you are Cupid?" A very large, bearded man climbed out of the sleigh, walking heavily up to her. He held a sword out at her, in a way that came across as more habitual than threatening.

"Yes..." She reached a finger out and pushed the sword away gently. "Santa, I assume?"

"Of course, but you can call me North. So, I hear you ran into trouble with my good friend Sandy! Come, come! We will discuss at the Pole. The others are already there." He waved a hand at the sleigh invitingly. "Climb in!"

"Wait, the others?" She glanced at Jack, who was sitting on the very back of the sleigh grinning at her.

"Yeah, North felt we should gather some of the other Guardian's for this. We don't usually have a good excuse for a party." He snickered, then glanced at Sandy. "Buddy, put your dreams on autopilot and climb in!"

She felt nervous about the prospect of dealing with the entire force of guardians. She'd met Bunnymund and Jack before at separate times, had Tooth as a target once recently, but talking to the whole bunch at once was a bit daunting. Still, chance of a lifetime. She took a breath and looked at North before he could get back in the sleigh. "Can I do one thing first?"

The three guardians turned to look at her. "What is it?" North asked.

"Um... Which one is Cupid?" She pointed at the reindeer, grinning. "I mean, I've never gotten to meet my namesake before."

He started laughing, a deep belly laugh that shook his whole body. He was different in some respects from the Santa she'd expected, but not in a bad way. "Sure! But watch out, reindeer can be cranky." He led her over to one of the creatures, who tossed its head when she got close. "None of that, Cupid." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cookie, handing it to her. "Here, give her this."

She held the cookie out to the other Cupid, who happily accepted it and nuzzled her for another. She giggled and scratched the reindeer's neck for a moment. "Thanks, North."

"Any time." He turned back to his sleigh. "All right, no more lollygagging! In you go!"

She flew and landed in the middle of the sleigh, next to Sandy. He pointed to the arm rest next to her. "Hold on?"

"Hold on!" North shouted in agreement as he started the sleigh moving.

Jack leaned forward conspiratorially. "You know, Bunnymund's terrified of riding in this. He hates flying."

"You're kidding. That big brute?" She snickered at the thought of the stoic rabbit being terrified.

"Whimpers like a baby. Gets a bit wobbly and holds on for his furry life. He's not so fond of magic portals either. You can make fun of him for it when you see him, if you'd like. I always do."

"Never used a magic portal. Is it as fun as it sounds?" She grinned almost as mischievously as Jack himself often did.

"You tell me." He pointed to North, who was tossing a ball in front of the sleigh. It created a hole in space, and they flew right into it. Seconds later they were flying outside of North's lair at the pole.

Annamore yelped. "It's cold! Why didn't you guys bring me a coat if you wanted to bring me here?" She grabbed her wings and pulled them partly around her body, shivering.

"What, you didn't guess it'd be cold when we said we were coming here? And how would you wear a jacket over your wings?"

"It was spur of the moment! I didn't think I'd need to dress for the occasion!" She said between bouts of her teeth chattering. "Please tell me North has heating in this place."

"Of course. Hey, Sandy, get her a blanket." North called from over his shoulder.

Sandy reached under the bench they were sitting on and removed a thick blanket. He tossed half of it over her shoulders, and pulled the other half over his, scooting closer. She shook her head, not complaining because she could use the extra body heat. There was a reason she tended to prefer the tropics.

Jack stared in surprise at the two of them sharing a blanket. "Sandy, for such a little guy, I have to hand it to you, you have the moves."

"From anyone else I'd find it creepy and probably slap them." She felt her shivering subside a little. "He's just lucky he's so adorable he can get away with it."

Moments later they landed, and all walked inside while Yeti's handled the reindeer. She was relatively familiar with Yeti's, but had only seen the ones that didn't live at the pole. North led them through halls and large rooms filled with toys, hard working Yeti's, and little elves playing and generally goofing off. In what she assumed to be the center hall she was greeted by the rest of the guardians.

She winced internally. Not since she was mortal had she had to deal with talking to so large a group at one time. She nodded to the large Australian based rabbit. "Bunnymund, how are you doing?"

"Not bad, Cupid. I hear you've gotten yourself into some trouble with one of our own?" He pointed at Sandy, who was happily helping himself to egg nog.

"Hey, it wasn't like I did it on purpose. Our jobs merely... Clashed. Never happened before. Freak accident. And it ruined my perfect record." She ranted for a moment before she suddenly had the Tooth Fairy hovering in front of her, staring into her mouth intently. She paused in her rant so she could deal with the new challenger.

"Hello. Uh... Want me to open wider?" She asked Toothiana, who nodded excitedly. She obliged, only to have the feathered guardian come even closer. "You have such adorable canines!" The tooth fairy clapped, before turning to Sandy. "I approve of her."

"Calm down, Tooth. I don't think that's why we are here today. Right, Cupid?" Jack interjected on her behalf.

North suddenly looked up. "Wait. Is Cupid a title for you, or is it really your name? After all, I am not really named Santa."

"It's a family name. My name is Annamore C. Upidianalus. My dad got called 'cupid' and it got passed down to me." She responded, sitting down on a bench. "How it got to be associated with a little naked flying boy instead of me, though, I couldn't tell you. But it does make working easier. Only ones who believe in me are kids, and the kids who see me in the day don't tell their parents they saw Cupid, but that they saw an angel."

"Awww, that's so sweet!" Tooth smiled at her. Annamore smiled back, feeling she had a good friend in the pretty fairy already.

"OK. Yes, that is sweet. But what about the problem? You still don't know for sure if you shot Sandy?" North paced by, handing her a plate of cookies as he passed.

"No but... It's kind of obvious I did at this point." Everyone turned their gazes to the Sandman, who had fallen asleep with an empty egg nog glass beside him. He had a heart with an arrow stuck through it over his head while he slept. She twitched. "I swear he's doing that on purpose."

"I don't think he'd do that, Anny." Jack said in his friends defense. She blinked at his usage of Anny, she'd not been called that in a very long time.

North shrugged. "Doesn't matter. What matters is will it harm him? Or you?"

"Not in of itself." Annamore scratched her head. "But it wasn't planned, and that's a first. I've never shot someone not on my list. I don't know what might come of this."

"Now, wait a second. How do your arrows work, anyways?" Bunny asked. "You shoot someone and boom, they fall in love with the first person they see, right?"

"Eh, common misconception. Love at first sight is rare, even with magical help like me. Basically, someone starts developing feelings for someone they know, but it's not quite love. Not yet. That's when I get to go in and shoot them. I'm more of a helping hand, and not a necessity." She pantomimed shooting someone with an arrow. "After all, people still fell in love before I became Cupid. Love just decided it needed a little help at some point. I also don't always have to shoot both people in a couple. Often as not, if I do, I have to shoot them at separate times."

"How did you become Cupid?" Tooth asked, taking a moment to nudge Sandy awake. "If you don't mind me asking. No one really knows much about you, since you tend to..." She trailed off, probably realizing what she was about to say could be considered rude.

"Be a loner?" Annamore finished for her, not minding the implications. "Back when I was..." She hesitated, pondering word choice. "Human. Mortal. I was the daughter of a pair of matchmakers of renowned ability. People all over the kingdom came to them, and they never matched people over what they considered to be petty things, like money or land. They had a gut instinct for the best reason of all."

"Love?" Tooth whispered, enthralled already.

"Yes, love." Annamore smiled at the fairy. "In those days I looked much as I do now, without the wings, of course. Life with my family was amazing, and I was learning the family trade. I must have been 19 or so." She sighed, lost in memory, then continued.

"Unfortunately, I was considered beautiful, and word spread. Many men visited us in attempts to get matched with... Well, me." The Cupid started poking at a toy distractedly. "My parents refused to match me with any of them. They had trained me, and they wanted me to choose for myself. And of all the men that visited us, I could not find myself loving a single one."

"Picky, eh, mate?" Bunnymund questioned sarcastically, arms crossed.

"Picky? How is it picky to want to find someone you really love?" She sent a glare at the oversized rabbit. His ears dropped slightly. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. This is my job, after all." She let a slight smile cross her face to let him know she wasn't angry with him. "Anyways, one day a few boats washed up near the edge of our kingdom. The survivors were starving and weak, and people stepped forward and offered to take them in as they could. My family took in one man, a few years older than me. He could barely stand from being so weak."

"At first all the survivors acted grateful, helping us in return as they gained strength. The man we took in, Kirai, was particularly helpful. He turned out to be the leader of the ships survivors, and a great hunter. We grew close. He even taught me how to shoot a bow, and gave me one. I was honored to have him as a friend. As time grew on, he decided that he wanted more from me, and when I was away visiting friends he asked my parents for my hand." She paused and took a deep breath.

"They told him no, to ask me himself. As I said before they wanted me to choose for myself." Annamore looked at the ground, willing herself to keep things under control. "I almost wish they hadn't been so kind about that for me. Then things may have turned out differently. He got angry, and murdered them."

The Guardians nodded quietly, as if such awful occurrences had happened in their own histories too. She decided she'd have to ask about that later, and continued. "He didn't end with my parents either, rallying his men, he started tearing through my people murdering and burning their houses. I'd returned that night, and seeing the houses burning, hearing screaming, I rushed back. That's when I saw him standing, backlit by burning houses, bodies surrounding him. He was laughing. He told me what he'd done, and that he was going to take me as his wife."

"I was appalled. He expected me to be the prize for his murderous rampage. My hand dropped to my bow, the same one he gave me. He stopped laughing, telling me he didn't think I could do it. I proved him wrong and shot him. Only hit him in the arm, because I was shaking so hard. He became enraged, spoke a curse, told me if I wouldn't be with him, I could never be with anyone in this life." She took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts while pondering how some memories could be so painful even after hundreds of years. Tooth reached over and put hand over hers, nodding to continue.

"I took aim and shot again, this time getting his shoulder. He yanked the arrow out and, grabbing me, stabbed me deeply with it." Her hand instinctively reached for the spot over her ribcage at the memory. "I didn't scream, I think he was expecting me to. After he saw my blood something changed, he just walked away. I was in shock, and wandered back into the woods. I could not bring myself to walk into my town, burning as it was, knowing my family was dead. Eventually, I felt myself growing tired, sat down against a tree, fell asleep... When I woke up I was as you see me now. I grew wings in my sleep, and the moon gave me this job. Not sure how long I slept there, or what happened to Kirai."

Jack winced. "So, now that we know all of this, what does that let us do? You don't have a way to reverse your arrows effect?"

"Never needed a way to." Annamore shrugged, glad to be out of the sore subject of how she gained her powers.

Bunny tapped a foot on the floor, thinking. "Then how does divorce work? Isn't that the reversal of love?"

She shook her head. "Nope, those are usually people who weren't meant to be together in the first place. Humans are stubborn, you know."

North held his hands up. "Wait, you said that your arrows only encourage feelings that are already there?"

"Yeah, basic- Oh! Why didn't I notice that before?" Everyones eyes flashed back to Sandy, who'd been listening to her history, but unable or unwilling to add anything to the conversation. "But I'd never actually met you before!"

He held a hand up and waved it in the universal "sort of" motion.

"Is the answer why an easy one to give?" He shook his head at her question.

Tooth gave her a sympathetic look. "I guess we can't really do anything then. Maybe you can try to get more information out of him later, but I need to get back to work, and so do some of you." She winked at Jack. "Planning any frosts tonight?"

"I can think of a place that needs some frost." He smirked before turning to Annamore and Sandy. "Need North to take you two back? Maybe Bunnymund should join you..."

"Aint happening, buddy. Good luck, Cupid." With that the large rabbit slapped a foot on the ground, and jumped down the hole that appeared.

Sandy looked at the Cupid and the little plane appeared above his head again. He pointed at it and nodded. "Sure, sure. That's just as fun as the sleigh." She replied, honestly not caring how she got home at this point.

"Here, before you go, take this. You can contact us if anything weird happens." North handed her a small globe.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." She grabbed the blanket again, climbed into the plane, and waved at them, suddenly feeling incredibly weary. "If I nap on the way back, don't judge me." She told the pilot before leaning back in the seat. He nodded an affirmative and started flying into the now late night.


	3. Eggnog and Leprechaun's Don't Mix

**Thanks for the positive feedback! It makes happy, more than you know. Special thanks to my friend Sara for pointing out my typo's after I mess up writing at 3 AM. - Not the Milk**

* * *

Annamore opened her eyes. Something was wrong. She wasn't on her cloud, or even in Sandy's now familiar plane. She was floating in a forest, a forest that was dreadfully familiar even after so long. She looked around in a panic, wondering how she got here. Sandy was next to her, staring at her with obvious concern. He motioned for her to calm down, then pointed to the ground.

Following his arm, she noticed someone laying up against a tree. She flew closer, realizing with a shudder that shook her whole body that she was looking at herself, bleeding, all those years ago. Her eyes flew back to Sandy's, tears welling in her eyes. "Why are we here? What are you doing?"

He looked slightly hurt, like this hadn't been his intention. Settling on a tree branch, he patted next to him firmly, then pointed out above the trees. She flew back up obediently and looked again where he was pointing. She saw the golden cloud that Sandy usually used as his base of operations. The normal tendrils of sand were spinning off from it as it moved slowly towards them. "Wait... Two of you too?"

He shook his head.

"A memory of yours?" She asked, wide eyed.

He nodded, then held a finger to his lips. She turned her gaze back to herself, enthralled. The cloud got closer then stopped moving overhead. The Sandy from the past popped his head over the side of the cloud curiously, before floating down cautiously. He stared at the bleeding girl, who could not see him. She made no sound, but tears rolled down her face as he watched helplessly. Eventually,she fell unconscious, and almost instantly black nightmares started swirling above her head.

The golden guardian clenched his fists in anger, pulled back and arm, and punched the nightmares, turning them into golden sand. He sat down next to the girl and held her hand, replacing the nightmares with his own dreams. He gently pulled her down so her head head rested on his shoulder comfortably.

He stayed with her until the dreams vanished suddenly. He stood up slowly, sadly, and put her hand back in her lap with a sigh. Concerned, the current Annamore flew down to investigate herself. "I didn't wake up, so why did the dreams leave?" She glanced back up at the Sandy sitting above her.

He looked at her with a sad expression on his face, waiting for her to realize the truth.

"Oh." She looked back at her lifeless body. "I guess I didn't sleep for as long as I thought. At least, it wasn't sleeping." She wasn't as distraught by that thought as she could have been, she'd known of other spirits who died before they became spirits. Some did, some didn't. Once immortal, how you got that way didn't always matter.

Moments later the dream memory dissipated, and she opened her eyes for real. This time she was laying on her cloud, Sandy sitting next to her like he had so many years ago. She sat up slowly, carefully, and thought about what she just saw. "Sandy?"

His eyes met hers with a concerned expression, likely worried about how she'd take that memory. "Has anyone ever told you that you are a wonderful guy?"

His expression lit up with an embarrassed smile. She leaned over and gave him kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. For caring, I mean. Did you know that I'd become Cupid that night?" He shook his head emphatically, his cheeks slightly red.

"You didn't know I was her until I shot you?" She grinned, reaching over and ruffling the hair on his head.

He shook his head again, taking her hand down from his head, a question mark appearing over him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You should get back to work though." She laughed and stood up. "Go on. I'll see you later."

* * *

The next few months flew by with her spending an odd amount of time with the various guardians. Mostly Sandy, of course, but the others seemed to have taken it on themselves to go out of the way to invite her to join them, or just show up unannounced. Her life was different now, and while she'd complain and gripe to herself about being too busy for it, or not having the personality for it, she found herself enjoying it.

Plenty of nights would go by where she saw none of them including Sandy, of course, but never more than a few days in a row. Christmas was a big one for that. Both Jack and North were busy then, one with gifts, the other trying to give kids a white Christmas. And Tooth was flying madly about because the holidays meant family, family meant people doing stupid things, and stupid things meant kids lost teeth. Annamore herself was incredibly busy too - Christmas was a big time for couples. After Christmas, though, North invited her to the Pole to join them for a celebration.

"But you will have to find your own way here. The reindeer are tired, need a break." North explained to her through the little magic globe.

"I can always fly there." She flapped her wings for emphasis.

"Eh, not recommended. Jack went overboard... Said he was trying to help me decorate. Bad weather to fly in, can barely see."

She saw Bunnymund peek in over North's shoulders. "I'll come pick you up, mate. You've never travelled my way, I daresay."

North shrugged and his face disappeared from the globe. A minute later a hole appeared in living room floor, with the big rabbit popping out. "I'm on a cloud. How does that work?" She peered into the hole incredulously. "Very carefully, hon. Jump in." He winked at her.

"Can't I fly through it?" She was a sky creature, holes weren't her thing. She was glad she hadn't actually made fun of him for his fear of flying, now.

"Not how I work. In you go." He grabbed her princess style and jumped in, ignoring her shout of protest.

"Falling. So much less fun than flying, and harder on the wings!" She complained. "If we go splat, I'm not going to forgive you!"

The rabbit shook his head and before she knew it they appeared in the middle of the party. Glancing around she noticed other spirits that she rarely crossed paths with, like the Leprechaun. She sheepishly climbed out of Bunny's arms and stalked over to Tooth, who was resisting giggling. "I think someone got jealous."

Annamore followed the fairies gaze to Sandy, who was glowering slightly at the oblivious rabbit. "Oh dear, that's cute. I better go calm him down before he punches someone."

She walked over to the dream guardian and leaned over to whisper conspiratorially in his ear. "Hey, I'm actually on a special mission today. Want to help?" His glower dissipated instantly, and he gave her a thumbs up. She held out her magic scroll and unrolled it. "Only one name left on it tonight, but I figured it was easier to wait till I was here." She grinned as he read the name.

He gave her a look easily translated. "We don't have to do anything yet. If we strike now, we run a risk of someone noticing I'm on the job. I'd prefer to be slick about this. No walking up and just shooting him in the face, you know? And having a slightly bigger crowd might actually help, too." He looked amusingly disappointed at not being able to do a frontal assault.

She thought quickly. "But you know, I could probably use you as a distraction tactic. You lure him away from the others, I sneak behind him, bam!" He smirked at the thought, glancing at the target, obviously wondering how to lure him out.

"Can't help you there, friend. I'd say find something to talk to him about, but..." She smiled at the joke. Unexpectedly his face lit up, and without an explanation he wandered over to Jack Frost, who was talking to Toothiana quietly. Figuring he had a plan, Annamore walked over to North and Bunny to listen in as they talked while allowing her to keep an eye on Sandy.

"Hey, Sandy. What's up?" The young man grinned cheerfully at his friend, while Tooth stared at his teeth in fresh awe. Sandy pondered for a moment, causing a bunch of various things to appear over his head in quick succession, too fast too make anything of it. "Whoa, slow down buddy." Sandy looked aggravated, paused, then pointed at the Cupid. She pretended to be too busy listening to the old "which is more important" argument to notice.

"Oh. Uh, girl problems?" Jack glanced at her too, nervously. "Not the best place for that conversation, Sandy. Want to go elsewhere?" Sandy nodded and started walking for the door. Jack looked at Tooth apologetically. "I'll be back shortly, OK?"

Annamore nearly choked with laughter once Jack walked out the door. She pretended to have gotten hot chocolate down the wrong tube to cover for it, faking a coughing fit. This allowed her to excuse herself from the room too. Once out she stopped and listened for Jack's voice. It was coming from her right. "So tell me you've at least kissed her?" She raised an eyebrow and quickly snuck to the room. Jack's back was turned towards her, but Sandy was facing the both of them. He nodded proudly and a hand appeared over his head.

"You kissed her... On the hand?"

Another nod. "Sandy, what is this? Go in for the kill! Don't you want to kiss her on the lips?"

Her hand involuntarily went to her forehead. She had to hand it to the little guy, he knew how to distract people. But this conversation needed to stop. She took aim and shot quickly, then snuck back to the main room before Jack could discover her... And most importantly, before she had to hear any more of that conversation.

A few minutes later the two guys wandered back in, Jack instantly going back to Tooth, an odd look on his face. Sandy walked over to Annamore again, an oddly smug look on his face. "You know, we make a good team." She told him as she sat down on a couch, wielding another helping of hot chocolate. "And now my work is done for the day. Also, I feel I should admit that it was very satisfying to shoot that little punk."

Sandy snickered silently, climbing onto the couch next to her with a very large mug of eggnog. They watched Tooth and Jack for a while, pleased with their good work. Eventually, Annamore nudged her friend in the side. "Well, Jack doesn't know what hit him, but I bet Tooth would thank us, don't you?"

His eyes twinkled in reply. Not long after she noticed a few of the Guardians were acting a little bit different. Jack had gotten louder and more annoying, the Easter Bunny was friendlier than usual, North was getting even jollier than usual, and even Sandy had an odd look on his face. She didn't know the other spirits well enough to tell if they were affected.

She was about to mention it to Toothiana when Jack demanded a snowball fight. The group was dragged out with oddly little fuss, confusing her. She threw on a cape, scarf, and gloves - Christmas presents from North. The cape even had cut outs to allow her wings to fit through. The snowball fight went normally at first, or as normal as it could be with a bunch of spirits playing together. Spring and Summer looked nearly miserable in the cold, while Leprechaun just watched and laughed at the players.

"... Eggnog." She muttered, dodging a magic ice ball.

"What was that?" Tooth gasped as she got hit between the wings.

"I think our little green friend spiked the eggnog. Look at the guys. They are acting weird. I drank hot chocolate, and you drank water..." She took a snowball in the side from Bunny. "Ack, he's got a mean arm." She retaliated quickly, then ducked behind a bank with Tooth. "I think they might be at least a little tipsy."

"Oh dear." They gathered ammo and started chucking it all around. "I got North!" The fairy clapped her hands.

"You're not concerned?" Annamore asked, surprised.

"Wouldn't be the first time it's happened. They never learn." Tooth shrugged.

"Hmmm..." Picking up a snowball, the Cupid sprinkled a little bit of gold dust onto it.

"What are you doing?" Tooth asked, looking at the snowball.

"Just an experiment. Same stuff my arrows are made of, but will wear off real fast." She threw the snowball at Spring. The pretty girl took the snowball right in the face. Bunny made the mistake of popping out of the ground right in front of her, arm raised to throw another. She grabbed his arm and yanked the shocked rabbit into a kiss.

"Maybe that's not the best use of my powers." Annamore stated solemnly as Tooth burst into laughter.

A little while later the snowball fight dissipated, in part because a few people ended up asleep when Sandy got annoyed with snowballs and started attacking with sandballs instead. Yeti's dragged the sleepers in, while the survivors of the fight filed back into the main room.

"That was good." North said enthusiastically. "Need to do that again. But I'm thinking party is done. Feel free to stay the night, there's plenty of room."

Sandy summoned his sand goggles and looked at Annamore expectantly. "Nope. You're staying here for a while." She told him firmly. A question mark. "Because you're drunk."

He held out a dream. "You can work later. The kids will survive a few hours." She sat back down on the couch they'd been sharing earlier, her voice cajoling. "Come on, it's not like we get to party every day. We can take a nap, even."

Sighing in mock aggravation he climbed up next to her. "Yeah, yeah. I know you're not complaining." She shook her head at him. "Here, what do you think of those two?" She pointed across the room where Jack and Tooth were snuggling under a blanket. Sandy pondered for a moment then held his hand over his mouth like he wanted to whisper to her.

Instinctively she leaned down to hear, only to feel Sandy's lips brush hers quickly. She felt her face go red. "I should have never let you talk to Jack..."


	4. Boogeyman in my Blood

**Thanks for all the support with the last chapter! I feel encouraged by all the Sandy love (And Annamore too). I'm going to be trying to stick to updating every two to three days, depending on my work load and how inspired I am. - Not The Milk**

* * *

Another month flew by for the red-winged avatar of love, and she fell into a routine that involved shooting people in the day, and napping on a cloud of sand by night. Not doing anything, just keeping her friend company. She would have felt weird about it, but she convinced herself that the kiss was a combination of Jack's bad advice and Leprechaun booze. Certainly the little guy was his normal, gentlemanly self.

She was, she admitted to herself, highly attached to Sandy. She just didn't know if she would call it love. Annamore didn't even know if she could love. She would think back to the words Kirai said the day she died, and feel like there might be a curse on her.

This night she was sitting on the cloud complaining loudly to Sandy about how much her workload was going to be in a couple of weeks, on Valentines day. He shook his head at her good naturedly and continued his work sending out dreams.

"Hey guys!"

They both glanced up to see Jack floating sheepishly above them with his staff. "Did I hear you mention Valentines Day?" He landed between them. "That's exactly why I'm here!"

"This can't be good." Annamore raised an eyebrow at him. "What fresh torture's have you come to heap on my work schedule?"

"Aaaah... I was kind of hoping you guys might be interested in a double date with Tooth and I on Valentine's day." His cheeks turned red, and he hid his face to try to cover for it.

"But Jack, that's my busiest day!" She was both flattered and horrified. That Jack considered her friend enough to ask her to be a part of something so monumental was grand, but for all that others considered her an item with Sandy, they hadn't actually been on a real date. She hadn't ever been on a real date.

"It can be later, whenever you're done." Jack insisted. "Come on guys, help me out! I've never done this sort of thing before."

Opening her mouth to argue, Annamore felt a tug on her sleeve as Sandy attempted to get her attention. He held a finger up, telling her to wait. He turned to Jack and gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks! I appreciate it, really!" The frost boy flew off.

"That... I... Sandy!" She flopped over in defeat. "You win, but you are evil. They don't know, but I know!"

He smiled at her with a look that said she'd live, and went back to work while she continued to pout. Eventually he walked back over and ruffled her hair. "No, I'm not angry." She surprised him by pulling him into a hug, resting her chin on his head. "Just not used to this sort of thing. But if Jack needs us, we'll be there."

* * *

A dark figure dressed in old fashioned armor the color of congealed blood landed on a busted lamp post, folding leather wings over his back. With a sword hanging from his belt, he cut a dangerous figure in the shadows. He'd been flying around that night assisting his weakened mentor, Pitch, the embodiment of fear. His hair was long, tightly curled, and the darkest brown, and was pulled into an almost amusingly fluffy pony tail to keep it from his face.

"You seem disturbed tonight, my child." A slippery, mocking voice rose up to him from the dark alley below. "Having problems?"

"No, none at all." He was quick to defend himself, he did not want to anger Pitch. "Those who have fear are always willing to hate." Dropping to the ground, he put his hand on the hilt of his blade.

"But...?" The taller spirit asked knowingly.

"I saw my greatest enemy today." Hate looked oddly worried. "Love. All this time and I'd never actually seen her."

"Oooh, let me guess. Did she mesmerize you with her great beauty, or shoot you with an arrow and kill all your hate?" Pitch clapped his hands. "Defeated you instantly, didn't she?"

"As if my heart were so soft. She never saw me. She was hanging out with an old friend of yours. Short, golden, doesn't talk much..." Hate wasn't going to let himself be made fun of without fighting back, and he knew Pitch's sore spots.

"Don't test me, boy. You may be helping me for now, but remember you would not exist without me." Pitch snarled.

Hate flinched slightly, which calmed down his ally. What he said was true, hate wouldn't exist without fear in people's hearts first. This was why he was helping Pitch.

"So what about her?" Pitch asked, eyes still narrowed.

"I knew her. She's the one who made me... This way. The one who killed me." He crossed his arms angrily. "And I think she's dating the sandfreak."

"Really?" Pitch looked miffed for a moment, before smiling wickedly. "Oh, this is wonderful."

"I hope that by wonderful you mean we can heap layers of destruction on them." Kirai growled.

"Of course we can." Pitch spread his hands grandly. "But shouldn't we torment them first? Make them fear... Make them hate?"

"Making them suffer is fine, too." A smirk crossed Kirai's face.

"I thought you'd feel that way. You go play in a war zone for now, and I'll figure out the best way to have fun with our old friends. We need time to properly plan." Pitch slid into the shadows and vanished.

"Sounds good to me." The avatar of hate stretched his bat-like wings and flew off into the night. He always enjoyed wars, after all.

* * *

On Valentine's day Annamore found herself in a panic. Her hair was a mess from the amount of flying she'd been doing all day. Her wings ached, too. She'd had to visit almost every city and town on the world. Thankfully, she was a spirit and had special abilities to help, but she still found herself wishing she had little minions like Tooth did. She headed back to her cloud, where the others had agreed to meet her.

Seeing them standing on her cloud waiting for her, she decided to pull a melodramatic stunt and faked a crash landing at their feet, complete with plane sounds. Not like it was going to make her hair look any worse, after all. Tooth looked worried for a moment, but Jack cracked up. "Very good! We need to figure out a way to make you smoke next time."

She let Tooth pull her to her feet with a smile. "I survived the day! Now, to celebrate. Where do we go?" "Inside to change." Tooth held up a bag she brought along.

"We'll wait for you two out here." Jack said with a wave indicating Sandy too.

"Nope." Tooth shook her head. "You two are changing too."

The two guys exchanged confused, slightly panicked looks. "But we didn't bring any-" Jack started.

"We work with Santa. You think North doesn't know your clothing sizes?" Tooth crossed her arms.

Annamore started giggling a little at the sight of Tooth intimidating both of the guys, and at how creepy it was that North knew that much about them. "Come on, it's only fair." She added to back her friend up.

The girls retreated into Annamore's bedroom, leaving the guys the use of her spare room. Half an hour later they emerged. Annamore's hair was gently curled, and she was wearing a dark blue dress that was far too short in her own opinion. The dress was long sleeved, but open in the back to allow for her wings.. "I always wanted to try to curl someones hair, don't have any myself." Tooth had told her.

Tooth was wearing a red dress, tight fitting over her feathered body, with a long slit up to her thigh. It was interesting to see her wearing clothing, for a change. Jack was in a white shirt with a sky blue suit over it that perfectly matched his eyes. Sandy took a moment of getting used to, since while his suit was gold colored, it was actually made of cloth and not sand like his normal clothes. Both men looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Annamore walked in a circle around them, grinning impishly. "Looking good, guys. Stylish, even. If other girls would be seeing you, I'm sure they'd be jealous of us." She winked at Sandy.

He blushed slightly, then noticed an invisible spot on his jacket that needed his attention.

Tooth nodded, catching Annamore's eye. "I agree. Good thing we are invisible, right?"

"Absolutely, can't have anyone trying to steal them."

"So, one thing before we get started tonight. If I do any flying in this dress, you guys go ahead of me." The cupid said firmly, tugging at the fabric as if it would lengthen the dress. They all laughed at her and headed off into the night. Jack found the perfect ball to crash, so that's where they started the night. As Tooth and Jack headed out on the dance floor, ignoring the bodies of people dancing right through them, Sandy and Annamore looked at each other awkwardly. "Do you want to sit this out?" She asked, pointing to their height difference.

In response he floated a few feet into the air and bowed to her. She laughed, accepted his arm, and let him lead her out to the dance floor. "You know what the great thing about being us is?" Annamore asked him, a serious look on her face.

He shook his head, looking at her questioningly. "We can't step on each others feet." He laughed in silent reply. Two feet appeared over his head, both left. "I don't think that you can say that when technically, you're floating."

A few songs later and they all took a break to steal food from the fancy buffet. They didn't have to eat, being spirits, but it kept with the feeling of the night and they appreciated good food. They hid under the table with their plates, to keep the normal people from seeing food moving through the air while they ate. "I feel like a kid in a fort." Tooth giggled, poking at the table cloth surrounding them.

"I have no idea what I just ate, but I like it." Annamore nodded. "Now, onward, to greater battles!"

"Battles?" They looked at her questioningly.

"What I mean is, I'm not done dancing." With that she grabbed Sandy's hand and dragged him out, his mouth stuffed with food like a hamster.

"Jack..." Toothiana smiled sweetly. "You created a monster by bringing her here."

"I don't think our little buddy is minding." He smiled and put an arm around Tooth, drawing her close to him. "We could go join them, but this is kind of nice, too."

Eventually they had to call it a night so that some of them could get back to work. Walking out of the building, Jack glanced around. The ball had been in a large, classy building on the waterfront. "This night could use a chance of snow, don't you think?" A few seconds later large, light flakes slowly started falling around them.

"Perfect. I like snows on Valentine's day." Annamore nodded in approval, looking at the snowfall over the water. "Well, it was a wonderful night, guys. Thanks for the invite."

Jack and Tooth waved to them and flew off into the night, leaving her and Sandy alone. He was already creating the usual plane. "You should let me pilot tonight." She said jokingly, knowing she couldn't control the sand.

A few minutes later they were back on her cloud, where he took her hand and looked at her questioningly. "Of course I had fun." She smiled cheerfully. "Did you?" He replied by holding out his free hand, making a bouquet of flowers out of glowing dream sand, and handing them to her.

After staring at them for a moment, an odd look on her face, she reached down and grabbed him by his suit front, lifting him to her level. He looked concerned for a moment, before she kissed him fiercely. She set him back on her cloud, looking embarrassed with herself. "Good night, Sandy." She retreated into her home quickly, sat the golden flowers in a vase, and wondered what on earth was wrong with herself.


	5. All Girls are Dingos

**Feel I should share that one scene this chapter would have been changed entirely had Sara not caught my typo. Pitch almost talked about vermin in his panties. Enjoy that thought, my friends - I laughed so hard when I found out. Also, this took a little longer than normal, as I accidentally left my laptop at work overnight this week. - Not The Milk**

The air buzzed with rain, and Annamore was enjoying it. The day was grey, but not sad or depressing to her. It was warmer than it looked, and the humidity felt like a cozy blanket as she flew about hunting her targets. The past couple of months had seen her filled with fresh enthusiasm for her job.

"47!" She shouted, unafraid of being heard, as she took aim from the sky. A smooth release and one more person felt more than just the sense of butterflies in their stomach. They felt like the world was made new, just for them and the one they loved, and they were going to make something of that world.

A child glanced up from the rainy streets and gasped as she flew by. The cupid waved, and was out of view with another strong push of her wings.

Hours later found her landing on Sandy's cloud. The rain and clouds had dissipated, and left the night mostly clear. The residual humidity made the stars flicker and dance in the sky. Her hair, still damp from the rain, had bits of glowing sand sticking to it thanks to her wings stirring it up as she landed.

"So... I've been thinking." Annamore said, dusting her hair out as a cover for her slight nervousness. A caution sign appeared over Sandy's head. "Yeah, yeah. A very dangerous thing, thinking is." She snorted. "Imp."

He smiled teasingly and raised a question mark instead. She cleared her throat dramatically. "I was thinking that you know where I live, and I've never seen where you live."

The Sandman appeared to ponder that for a moment before a clock appeared over his head. "Great!" She grinned, ruffling his hair.

Taking a moment to peer over the edge of the sand cloud, she noticed twice as many dreams flying out from it across the sky. "Going into overdrive?" She asked, reaching out and touching one, causing a golden kitten to pounce out from it.

Laughing, she plucked a feather from her wing and wiggled it in front of the dream cat. It tripped over its own paws as it tried to chase the feather, making her laugh even harder. Righting itself, it tried again. After she let it catch the feather, the golden fuzzball rolled over with it between its front paws, kicking it fiercely.

A minute later she felt a tap on her shoulder. She picked up the dream kitten and blew on it, turning it back into a stream of sand that went to join the rest. "There already?" Annamore asked her companion. He pointed over the edge, and she peered back over. There on the ocean was a large island made of the same sand as the clouds. In shape it resembled a rather calm hurricane, in that tendrils curled out from the center. Stretching her wings out she slowly glided down and landed near what she realized was a castle in the middle. "You know, I'm not sure I expected you to have a place this fancy. I'd want to build a sandcastle but I think you beat me to it." She stated, peering around wide eyed.

He look pleased by her reaction, standing by and watching her take in the details of his home. She nearly took flight in shock when a mermaid appeared to greet their friend. First one siren, then another appeared on the shore of the glowing island. They stared at the stranger, their eyes wild. Seeing she was a fellow creature of mythology, they relaxed slightly. "They must not be used to you having guests." She whispered at Sandy. He nodded, then various images appeared over his head in rapid succession. "Slow down, I can't take in a story that fast."

"He's trying to tell you how he arrived here, long ago." A lovely green haired mermaid assisted from where she basked nearby.

"That's right. All these months and I still haven't heard his origin story." Annamore walked over to the water's edge near the mermaid and, sitting down, stuck her feet in the warm water. Sandy sat next to her, and between the two of them pieced together where Sandman came from.

After hearing the story, and a minute of pondering, she came to a conclusion. "So basically, you're an alien from outer space."

He facepalmed while the mermaid laughed. "You must be Cupid. He's 'told' us about you, in his own way, of course." The winged girl gave him a sidelong glance. "Has he now..." Before he could defend himself she scooped up a handful of sand and poured it onto his hair like a child at the beach. He looked surprised for a moment, then fell over asleep.

Annamore exchanged glances with the mermaid. "You know, I didn't think that through."

"Can't quite use this like regular sand." The mermaid laughed at her. "You're a fun one. Come back sometime."

"Thanks." Dusting the sand off of his head, she hefted him onto her back and carried him up into the castle, where she dumped him unceremoniously on a couch. She poked around only long enough to find a blanket, which she used to tuck him in. "Sweet dreams, Sandy." She watched him for a moment before flying off to her own home.

* * *

Kirai dropped into a hole in the ground, below a broken bed. He absolutely detested visiting Pitch in his lair. Pulling his sword, he rattled cage bars as he walked by them, just because he knew Pitch hated it. Some bats, disturbed, flew past him to the outside world.

"Enough, boy." Predictable. The avatar of hate resisted the urge to roll his eyes and sheathed his sword. "Pitch. Hope you haven't missed me too much."

"No more so than I would miss the vermin in my pantry." Pitch slipped out of the shadows and stepped forward where he could be seen.

"Vermin? Have you ever tried cleaning?" Kirai sat down precariously on a cracked chair. It creaked, but didn't fall.

"Why clean when I can torment people with my fear?" His voice greased with the usual mockery.

"Made headway on that, have you?"

"Oh, very much so. Your groundwork helped greatly." Pitch held out a hand and summoned a nightmare. "I'm already so much stronger now. The nightmares obey me again. We can start making our move now. But slowly, carefully. I do not want them suspicious."

"One shot here, one shot there. Right?" They'd been over the plan before, but when it came to Pitch confirmation was always a good thing. He did not tolerate mistakes, while the incarnation of hate didn't relish the thought of failing. He wished he'd discovered who Cupid was before she'd gotten caught up in the Guardian's radar.

Pitch tapped a finger against his cheek. "Weaken love, you weaken them all. But how do you weaken love? Our main plan of attack should manage to an extent, but we need to shake her."

"I have a few ideas there." Kirai smiled maliciously. "Remember, I knew her."

"Very well. I'll trust your judgement on that. In the meantime, I'll give you a gift." Pitch summoned a new nightmare, this time of riding size. "A war horse just for you, boy."

Kirai opened his mouth to protest, then closed it. The fear spread just from being in the presence of such a nightmare would assist him on his own errands. He nodded, and taking the reigns, found himself outside. He shook his head - he hated it when Pitch did that.

He climbed onto the nightmare, who snorted in anger at him. Annoyed, he gave it a quick jab with his heels, and galloped off towards the closest city. The night was young, and he had a lot of hate to spread by morning.

A couple of weeks after the sandcastle visit, Annamore got a rather odd invitation from Bunnymund, who tunneled up to her cloud when she was out gardening. "How would you like to come and help paint Easter eggs the day before Easter?" The large rabbit scratched his back with one of his boomerangs as he asked. "We had an interesting time of it last year, and I thought it might be fun to have a little party. We are even having a couple of human kids over. You should see Sophie, the little sheila.."

He trailed off when he noticed Annamore staring at him, wide eyed. "Uh, something wrong, mate?"

"No... No... I just don't think I've seen you get this excited before. I assume... Tunnels?" She winced at the thought.

"That's right. And this time you're going to jump in yourself." The rabbit told her firmly.

She nodded her acceptance of that. "I'll just have to rush through my work. I'll give North a holler when you need to come get me."

The Pooka waved and disappeared back down the dirt hole, which became solid cloud again seconds later. "... How does he do that?" She asked, poking at the spot with her foot.

The day before Easter she did as she was told. Her workload was a little low for the season, so it didn't take her long to finish up, but some years were like that so she didn't think anything of it. Breaking out her magic globe she got a hold of the party already in progress. "Hey North, tell Bunnymund that I'm goo-"

"Hey, sheila." She turned her head to see the rabbit suddenly leaning on her wall. "This is my living room!" She gaped. "Seriously, how are you doing this?"

"Trade secret. How do you think I'm able to hide baskets?" He smirked and pushed her down the tunnel in her floor.

She kept her wings pressed close to her body to avoid damaging them as she slid down and attempted not to feel sick. As the rabbit caught up with her she grabbed a hold of him. "I don't like this!"

"Hey, come on. One freebie is all I give!" He tried to get her to let go, causing her to bare her teeth like she was going to bite him. "What are you, a dingo?!" They flew out of the tunnel and landed in a pile on Jack and North.

"Well, that was dignified." She stood, brushed herself off, and sheepishly walked over to Tooth, ignoring the confused looks on people's faces.

"Whoa, this is Cupid?! Is she a guardian too?" A very young voice asked. She glanced over and realized that Jack and North had apparently been playing with the young humans Bunny mentioned, before she knocked them down.

The boy, who'd asked the questions, ran over to her. She held her hand out. "Annamore, also known as Cupid. Not a guardian, just a friend of theirs. Nice to meet you...?"

"I'm Jamie. And that's my little sister, Sophie." He pointed at the little girl, who had pounced on Bunny instead of letting him stand up after their crash landing. Finally noticing the winged girl, she rolled off of the rabbit and ran over, her hair surrounding her face like an out of control mane. "Pretty!" She reached up and tugged on feathers of Annamore's wings.

"Come on now, none of that. I need those." Smiling, she picked up the little girl and glanced around the warren. "Looks roomy enough for a small flight. Want to have a go?" Sophie nodded, an awed look on her face.

Stepping away from the others Annamore opened her wings and tried to take off as gently as she could. Her wings were massive, so she tended to be slightly less than graceful about ground landings and takeoffs.

The child squealed with delight as she did a flip.

"Whoa, not going to let your sister have all the fun, are we, Jamie?" Jack asked.

"No way!" Came the enthusiastic response. Grabbing Jack's hand, the kid floated into into the air. "Heh, floating would be more convenient, but let's face it... Wings look cooler." Annamore winked at Toothiana. With a dive, she let Sophie buzz her brother and Jack.

The boys chased her and sent a gust of wind at them. She flipped expertly in the wind, then used her wings to send a gust back in retaliation. A minute later they heard a loud "Oy!" And all four of them paused in the air and glanced down at their friends on the ground. "Eggs?" Bunnymund said pointedly.

"Ooops." The four in the air exchanged guilty looks and landed. Sophie ran back to her large rabbit friend and started babbling to him about flying.

Eventually Annamore found herself seated in between Sandy and North at a work table, a wire basket full of eggs in front of each of them, and various paints, paint brushes, bowls of water or cleaner, and sponges scattered over the table in easy reach. Opposite of them sat the two kids, hemmed in on each side by Toothiana and Jack. Bunny was stationed at the head of the table with his own, much bigger pile, and he would occasionally hop up to offer advice or help, especially to the youngest members of the group.

After a little while, she glanced to each side of her. Both North and Sandy had entertainingly large amounts of paint on their faces. A snort escaped her before she could stop it, she had plenty of paint on her hands but was pretty sure she didn't have any on her face. North looked at her and realized what she was laughing at, and smiled good naturedly. Sandy remained oblivious, deeply focused on the egg he was painting blue and gold.

She focused on the egg in front of her again, adding simple butterflies and flowers around the center. Once finished with that, she glanced again at the Sandman, who caught her glance this time. Looking innocent, he pointed to a spot above her eye. Instinctively she reached up and touched it, assuming he meant she had a smudge. He nodded approval, then pointed to her nose. Confused, she brushed at that spot too. After a minute of this, both Sandy and North nearly fell off their stools with laughter.

"... I really shouldn't have fallen for that." She grumbled ruefully, her face now covered in paint. "Revenge for the sand accident?"

Sandy nodded cheerfully, an equal sign appearing over his head.

"I guess we are." She acknowledged, defeated... For now.


	6. Handbook for a Sellout

**Feel like I'm behind on this chapter - got some new ducks today, spent more time playing with them and pondering names for them than I should have. Still haven't named them all. Also the next chapter will probably be delayed slightly too, because I might have Jury duty tuesday. If it cancels I'll magically have all day to write instead. This chapter was hard to write, and I also am very tired, so I really hope that the writing towards the end doesn't look loopy or weird. - Not The Milk**

* * *

After some time they finished with the hand painted eggs. The rest of the eggs, Bunnymund explained, would be done with less of a hands on approach. The majority of the group decided it was time to take the kids back home.

"So, how did you ever get them here without their parents knowing?" Cupid asked the group curiously. Sandy grinned impishly, an arrow forming over his head and pointing down to himself. "Aah. Well, who doesn't love a nap?" She laughed. "Don't make a habit of that, do you? Wouldn't want them to think they are narcoleptics."

"You coming with us?" Jack asked, picking Jamie up and placing him on his shoulders.

"Nah, I want to explore this place a little. Never been in a warren, it's kind of cool. I also want to see how he does the rest of the eggs." She replied with a wave.

Sandy looked a little peeved, glancing back and forth between those staying and those going. "Go on." Annamore nodded to him. "I'll see you tonight." He shrugged and floated off down the tunnel. Reaching down she picked up Sophie and gave her a hug. "You have fun today?" She asked, peering at what face she could see behind the crazy hair. Sophie grinned and held up an egg she painted in proof of her fun.

"Good to hear it. I'll see you later. Good bye, Jamie." She handed Sophie to North and winked at both of the children before starting to walk off. "Hey, wait a second." Jack asked, why do you want to hang out with the kangaroo all of a sudden?"

"Oh, that's easy. We're the ranged weapon brigade. We are required by law to be friends, exchange secret handshakes, and target practice together." Annamore kept a straight look on her face as she spoke, although it was difficult for her.

"She's right, mate. It's in the handbook." The rabbit hopped over and handed her another basket of eggs.

It was North's turn to look confused. "What handbook? I got no handbook."

"Like I said, that's because you guys don't have long range weapons. It's very hush-hush. Now get going so he and I have enough time to work on our handshakes." The winged girl said firmly.

"Wait, what about Sandy?" Tooth asked, confused.

"He's mid-ranged." Bunny replied, as if that settled it.

"Yeah. And everyone knows mid-ranged is almost short-ranged, and if we let mid-ranges into the club, why, we'd have to invite everyone." Annamore turned the group and sent them down the tunnel after Sandy, before turning a smirk to Bunnymund.

"Blimey, that was a good one." The Pooka smirked.

"It's in the handbook? That was smooth. But it's a good cover for why I'm really still here." She met Bunnymund's curious gaze with a mischievous one.

"And that is?" He turned to lead her down the tunnel. "You saw my gardens, right? It's hard to plant geek around those guys – Jack would make fun of us. So you grow your eggs on plants? You need to show me this."

She spent the rest of the day assisting him, and spent a couple hours the next morning helping him hide eggs. "I thought it might be fun to try something new." She explained when Sandy questioned her about it the next night. "I mean, I shoot people all day. It's a great job, and there are few things better than seeing people fall in love. That's pretty important. I rarely get to see cool things like kids finding toys or presents, nor do I get the joy of being able to give children snow days or dreams."

The protector of dreams nodded his understanding, glad that Annamore finally got to experience something more than shooting people for the first time since she became Cupid.

Another month went by when Annamore finally admitted to herself that something bad was happening. She had half the work load as usual, which wouldn't be a big deal if it was just one day, but it had been slowly decreasing each day.

Eventually Sandy noticed something was worrying her and called her out on it, threatening to make her sleep for the next week if she didn't answer him. "Fine, you win!" She covered her face in mock fear. "No one needs to sleep that long, not even you!"

Satisfied, he sat down next to her, their feet hanging off the edge of his dream cloud. She gathered her thoughts together to explain what was happening. "Sometimes the amounts of people I need to shoot vary in a given year, often related to things like baby booms twenty years earlier, and the like. But that's a predictable drop or increase, and it never changes this drastically. There's simply a lot less love, all of a sudden."

Sandy pointed at her, concern written on his face. "My power is love. I don't get much power from being believed in, like you guys. So long as people feel love, I'll have some power. But if love dies…" She trailed off, lost in thought for a moment. "Not that I believe that's going to happen. I mean, this is probably just a fluke, I feel fine so I don't think it's reduced too drastically."

He gave her a rather fierce look, a sword appearing over his head. "You're saying you won't let anything happen to me?" She questioned, trying to translate his intent. He nodded at her, taking her hand in his. "Hey, don't discount my ability to fight, too." Annamore smiled despite herself. "But thank you. I mean, we don't know if there's anything we even have to fight. This might fix itself, so try not to worry about me, OK?"

He nodded, a silhouette of the other guardians appearing now. "I don't think we need to do that yet, but if it gets worse, I will, promise. I mean, I'm not getting weak after all. I'm sure it'll be fine!"

He didn't look convinced, but let her be.

* * *

A week later Kirai was stalking along a sidewalk in the city, looking for likely looking targets. He preferred striking in subtle ways. It was a simple matter to fill a teenager with hate as they screamed how much they hated their parents, or a person working the graveyard shift at a job, or a racist old fool. Humans were simple creatures, once they started hating one thing their fellows tended to not notice as the hate spreads into other parts of their lives.

Spotting a young woman walking along the dark street, muttering under her breath, he nodded cheerfully to himself. Stepping in line behind her, he didn't worry about being seen. People believed in hate, but no one knew his name, and so no one believed in him.

He raised his sword and stabbed it towards her back, only to be stunned when his arm was stopped short before he connected. Glancing at his arm, he saw a golden stream of sand wrapped around it. He twisted his sword hand, severing the stream, and spun around to face his adversary, his original target forgotten.

"I admit, I was hoping I wouldn't have to fight any of your for a while." Kirai nodded sarcastically to a very angry looking Sandman. "Do we really have to do this?"

Sandy cracked both whips toward the leather winged man in answer. One, he blocked with his sword, the other managed to break skin on Kirai's face. "Oh, you mean business don't you. Have you already figured out what I'm doing?"

Sandy nodded, his face growing even more serious. He struck again, managing to wrap one around Kirai's leg. He whipped him around, meaning to slam Hate into the concrete, only to have the whip cut again mid-air. Kirai smirked at him from the air. "Taking this rather personally aren't you? Well, I have a secret for you buddy. I don't share my toys." He made a gesture to something behind Sandy, causing Sandy to turn. He didn't turn fast enough, and found himself pinned down by a large nightmare.

Kirai landed next to him, clapping. "You deprived me of my target, how about you take the hit instead?" Before Sandy could break free, he found himself stabbed in the chest.

"Later, Sandfreak!" The avatar of hate flew off into the night, sacrificing the nightmare to his escape. He was cackling gleefully. "Oh, Pitch is going to love this."

* * *

Annamore woke feeling sick for the first time since becoming immortal, but worked through the slight dizziness to manage to hunt down and shoot her few targets for the day. She was happy to get back to her cloud to rest, and instead of gardening, she flopped down outside and dozed while waiting for Sandy to show up. He'd shown up every night like clockwork to check on her ever since she told him what was going on.

When she woke up it was already past sundown and her friend was nowhere to be seen. Concerned, she took flight and sought out some of the areas she could usually find him. Not finding him, she flew out to his island to check there. Not seeing him there either, she started worrying even more. Without thinking she flew to the pole and knocked, shivering, on the big door of North's workshop. "Glad it's not winter anymore…" She mumbled under her breath, holding her wings close to her body as she waited. She knocked again, pounding this time. "Open up!"

The door finally opened, revealing Phil. She pushed her way in, shaking the snow off her feathers. Looking at her funny, he grabbed a blanket, tossed it on her, and stomped off with an odd noise. A minute later he returned with North. "Annamore? What are you doing here? You look terrible."

"Gee, thanks. Sit down, this'll take a few minutes." Accepting a hot chocolate from Phil, she told North everything. "And now I can't find Sandy. This isn't like him."

"So you flew all the way here, weak? Why didn't you just call?" North looked confused.

"Oh. I guess I panicked. I didn't even think about doing that." Now that she was here and talking, she shook her head at her panic.

"It's fine. I'll call the others; if Sandy is OK, he'll come too." He led her into the room with the large globe that showed all the believing children. He reached for the signal and pressed it down with a twist.

Jack and Tooth were the first to show, then Bunny. Before they could fill their friends in on what was going on, Sandy walked in too, perfectly normal. Annamore was torn between happiness to see him and annoyance that he'd made her worry. He didn't even look at her as he grabbed eggnog and waited for North to explain why they were called.

"So, what's the emergency?" Jack asked, looking pleased to have something to do.

"I was going to say the emergency was Sandy's missing, but apparently he's not. So secondary emergency is that I'm slowly losing my powers?" Despite his previous worries, not an ounce of concern showed itself on the Sandman's face. A cold feeling snuck into her gut, one that made her feel slightly sicker than the thought of losing her powers.

The thought of her powers being lost set most of the guardians into an argument about what that could mean, and she had multiple questions tossed her way as well.

Instead of answering the questions, Annamore continued to stare at Sandy. "That's not right." She stood and walked over to her friend, the other guardians falling silent as she did. Kneeling in front of him, she looked into his eyes. He looked back calmly, and with no malice, but all the care was gone. "You've stopped loving me, haven't you?" She asked him, her voice oddly level.

He shrugged, and the cold feeling solidified into ice. "What happened yesterday?"

He did his best to relay the details of the fight to them, but all they could glean from him was that the enemy had bat wings, a sword, and was working with a nightmare. He made it clear that the enemy was responsible for Annamore's loss of power, and that he tried to fight him and got stabbed, but that he took no damage.

She rested her head on her knees in defeat, dealing with conflicting emotions. She started laughing, drawing stares from the others. "Are you alright?" Tooth asked, a sympathetic look on her face.

"I was just thinking… This is what I wanted when I first shot him, right?" Annamore questioned, a bitter look on her face.

"Yeah?"

"Then why does it hurt so badly, now that it did?" She stood up, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Sandy, you still want to give kids dreams, right?"

He nodded emphatically. "And you're fine? Don't feel weird or anything?" Another nod.

"Great. I guess now we know what to look for in the enemy, I can head back home, I need all the energy I can get. I'll start trying to find this guy tomorrow."

"Wait!" Jack said, glancing back between her and Sandy. "You're just going to leave him like this?"

"This is how he felt before I accidentally shot him, since it was an accident the first time… I think it'd be an abuse of power if I did it again, just to make myself feel better." Jack looked like he disagreed with her, but he didn't attempt to argue.

She walked to the door, the guardians following. "We'll help you look tomorrow. If Sandy cannot beat this guy alone, we might need group effort." Tooth said kindly.

"Thank you, guys. I appreciate it, especially since I'm not a guardian." The cupid attempted a smile for Tooth, before looking at Sandy again. "We can still be friends, right, Sandy?" He thought for a moment then nodded, a slight smile on his face. She smiled for real now, feeling that things weren't completely hopeless then. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, then."

"I'll take you back, mate." Bunnymund walked up to her and scooped her up. "You probably should limit the flying if you can help it, right now."

She sighed, knowing the rabbit was right. "Yes, because tunnels are a perfect cure for all life's problems."


	7. Choke a Pitch

**Whooo I didn't get picked for jury duty (Might have another round of it next week though) but it's been so cold here I've been having to spend more time making sure my chickens and ducks have water that isn't frozen - I blame Jack, personally. But I am glad to have gotten some snow too. Anyways, bit more of a lighthearted chapter despite everything that happened last round (Oh, and the movie here is the Hobbit). Hope you guys enjoy. - Not The Milk**

* * *

Bunnymund popped out of a hole in the middle of Annamore's home, still holding her. Setting her gently on her couch, he sat down next to her. Pushing his ears back nervously, like a human might their hair, he looked at her. "You sure you're going to be alright, sheila?"

"I'm weak, not dying." She attempted to smile at the rabbit.

"Not what I meant." His face betrayed worry. "Any idea what happened to Sandy?"

"I think the guy he fought was my opposite." She gathered her thoughts. "If love can exist in solid form, hate can too, right? Never ran into him before, but I've had a feeling I had an opposite ever since I became Cupid."

"And there was a nightmare, so we can guess Pitch was involved. It makes sense for Hate to have something against you, if that's who it is, but why would Pitch work with him?" Bunny scratched under his chin with a boomerang. "And wait, if Sandy was attacked by hate, why doesn't he hate you now?"

"It's all speculation until we can beat the answers out of them in person, but I'd guess they are probably more effective as a team. Pitch was weakened from you guys, but think about it… If they get me out of the way, or just break my power, that's going to freak out a lot of children!" Her eyes narrowed. "Ever seen what happens when parents start screaming in front of the kids? The kids get terrified, so it's a win for fear too!"

"We won't let that happen." Bunny assured her.

She continued her line of thought. "As for Sandy, it may be one of two things, if we are even right about that guy being Hate. If we figure that his sword is like my arrows, and spreads hate instead of love, then maybe Hate just left him like this to torment me. Apathy is almost more cruel than hating me would be. Or maybe he did want to make Sandy hate and…"

"And what?" The rabbit pressed her, a furry eyebrow raised.

Her cheeks turned slightly red, her eyes wandering to the sand flowers she still had in a vase in the room. "And maybe I'm flattering myself into wondering if he loved me enough that the emotions cancelled each other out instead of letting him hate me."

"That's probably the truth of it, I think the little bloke had it bad. Well, after we get you fixed, maybe I'll stab him with an arrow to put him back to normal for you." He gave her a wink, and she couldn't fight back a small laugh. "Get some rest. I'm not sure I should leave you unguarded, you make an easy target right now, mate."

"Trust me, no one's going to be getting into here. I have that much power left, at least." Annamore waved flippantly. "See you later."

"Tomorrow." He jumped back into the tunnel and it closed. Now alone, the cupid flopped over on the couch, arguing with her emotions till she drifted into sleep.

* * *

The next day Annamore was surprised to be awakened by the sound of reindeer and bells. She still felt weak, but knowing she had back up today made her feel more hopeful than she might have otherwise felt. Groggily she opened the door for her friends and let them in, surprised to see them all, even Sandy.

"Can I at least have time to eat something?" She asked, fighting a yawn.

"Absolutely! We just came early because we were worried about you." North said as he sat heavily on a chair.

"How are you feeling?" Tooth fluttered after her into the kitchen. Annamore was surprised to see that she had a pair of swords with her.

"Better, I think, now that you guys are here." She told the fairy with a smile. "You came armed? That doesn't seem like you."

"I thought it might be convenient until this situation is… Resolved." Tooth admitted.

"Thanks. You guys are the best." She paused at the door and peered into the other room where the guys waited. "This place has never had so many people in it. It feels weird. In a good way, I mean."

"Still not used to having us around?" Tooth asked teasingly, joining her at peering out.

"I'm mostly used to that by now, just not used to people being in my house." She marched up to the table and stabbed an arrow into it next to her bow. "Alright, weapons on the table!" Within seconds most of the weapons were sticking out of the wood, Jack's staff leaning against one of North's swords, the table frozen. To Annamore's surprise, a pair of golden whips lay in the mix, too.

"Still keeping to your promise, buddy?" She looked curiously at Sandy.

He nodded firmly at her. "Great. Let's go hunt a bat-winged freak and some nightmares."

Grabbing her ever shortening list she led them outside. "Oh, I had an idea that might keep my powers from getting weaker for now, even if it won't solve things in the long run. Jack, I know it's off season, but how would you like to throw some snowballs?"

"I like the sound of your plan already." Jack grinned, flipping onto the back of the sleigh. Annamore used the chance to test her wings, but chose an actual seat. She slid to the side so Bunny could take the middle, knowing how he felt about flying, Sandy hopped in next to him. Tooth ended up in front of Jack, on her own bench, which made Annamore smile – she was glad some people were still in love.

"OK, so what's this plan of yours?" North asked as he took the driver's seat.

"How many of you remember that snowball I threw at Spring?" She winked at Bunny.

"You mean the one that made her snog Bunny?" Jack cackled cheerfully. "That was great!"

"That's what I want to do today as we look around, hopefully with less snogging." She grinned at the winter spirit. "So we'll just have to shock a few people with snowballs when it's not snowing."

North flew them to the area that Sandy had fought before. After they looked in vain for any clues that might help them find their enemies, Tooth frowned slightly in thought. "I think we aren't going to have any luck finding this guy unless we ambush him at night. He's probably like Pitch, nocturnal."

"Aren't most of you guys relatively nocturnal, too?" Annamore raised an eyebrow at them. "I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one who operates in the day."

"Oh, good point." North nodded. "But you also would have a hard time shooting people if you had to go after them sleeping."

"Well, at least we can still have fun today, even if we need to wait till evening to hunt. You ready, Jack?" She turned to him, surprised to see him back in the sleigh.

"I'm more than ready." He smirked, holding up red bags filled with what she could only assume were snowballs. She walked over and sprinkled gold dust into the bags, taking care not to use as much as she had on the one from the after Christmas party.

Everyone willingly grabbed a bag, each of them looking pleased with the plan. "So… Spread out and hit anyone you think looks like they could use a better day." Annamore suggested, reaching into the bag and throwing a snowball at a curmudgeon walking by. He gasped in shock, spinning around to yell at whoever threw it, and scratching his head when he saw no one behind him. After a moment a smile appeared on his face, and brushing the snow off, he continued on his way.

The group exchanged glances, and no one needed to say anything. The race was on. Bunnymund jumped down a tunnel, North to his sleigh, and everyone else to the air.

Seventeen hits later and Jack appeared next to Cupid on a rooftop as she scanned for her next victim. "I don't know why you're trying to beat me, I'm winter. If there's one thing I know, it's snowballs."

"Duck." Instead of arguing, she threw a snowball right at him. He dodged, and it hit another target on the street below. He looked surprised, making her smirk. "This is my job, kid. Don't think you can win just because you like to goof off."

She jumped off the roof in search of more targets. The group was doing a good job, she was already feeling stronger. A couple hours later they regrouped in the closest park outside of the city, near a river. Seeing a man playing with his smartphone on a bench, she poked Sandy. "Hey, that guy looks like he could use a nap, doesn't he?"

He gave her a funny look, but didn't argue, knocking the guy out with a sandball. She picked up the phone and started typing on it. "Talk about an abuse of power, mate." Bunny said, having noticed what just went on.

"I did this for a reason. Don't you guys ever pay attention to the news?" She asked him, not looking up from the phone.

"Only the big stuff." The rabbit shrugged.

"Here we go!" She jumped up and started reading out loud to the Guardian's. "Earlier this morning, various citizens of Fredericksburg reported being hit with snowballs. No one saw the culprits, but some had the feeling that some of the snowballs may have been launched from the rooftops. Taking into consideration that it's sixty-five degrees out, we can only assume that some very dedicated college students have been planning this prank for months."

"You got Sandy to knock a guy out for that?" Tooth asked, attempting to look stern.

"Are you complaining about being called a college student?" She stuck the phone back into the hand of the sleeping man. "There, see. No harm done. Normally I just sneak into a café and read over people's shoulders."

"Why do you need to keep up with the news?" Bunnymund asked curiously.

"Ah, bad habit I developed. Remember I spent a long time without friends? It kept me from feeling too lonely, although I haven't been doing it as much lately, for some reason." Jack nodded knowingly at her statement, as he'd been in her boots too. "But you know, sometimes it's just fun to read it. Anyways, school will be letting out soon, we don't want to be spotted by a bunch of kids do we?"

"Well, what should we do till evening?" Tooth asked from where she sat on the edge of sleigh.

"How about a movie?" Jack grinned at them all.

"A movie?" They all exchanged confused glances.

"What, none of you have ever snuck into a movie?" He laughed teasingly. "You guys really are old!"

"And that's why you always made the naughty list, Jack." North chuckled.

"Sounds fun to me." Bunnymund said, surprising everyone.

The rest exchanged looks and followed Jack to the closest theater, walking in and peering at the posters and show times. "So how does this work, anyways?" Annamore asked Jack, staring around the still mellow theater.

"Just follow me." He had apparently picked the movie, and was leading the way down the hall.

He pushed open one of the doors and held it open for the group. "Head to the very back of the theater, up top. The best seats are up there, and provided no one sits on us we should be good."

The majority of the group sat down nervously, this being their first movie. "It's a good thing we are doing this, because you guys obviously needed to get out more." He paused and studied the way the group was sitting. "Oh no, this is all wrong."

"What is?" North asked. "Are we doing the movie wrong?" He looked worried.

"No, but how can I sit next to Tooth like this?" He winked at the fairy, who was sitting next to Annamore. "Sandy, switch spots with her will you?"

"I know what you're doing." Annamore mouthed silently at Jack. Understanding, he donned a pair of 3D glasses and replied just as silently. "Deal with it."

Sitting down, he passed more pairs of glasses down. "Put these on."

"But my eyes are fine." North looked at them, confused. "I don't need glasses."

"You do for this movie. Trust me." Everyone put them on obediently, eyes glued to the screen in curiosity.

After the movie started, North began to question Jack about the magic glasses, before being hushed firmly by Tooth, who was already enthralled. "So, am I the only one who wants to try to touch the beards? I swear they are going to jump out of the screen and attack me." Annamore whispered to Sandy. He smiled in reply and stuck his arm out at the screen to show his agreement.

* * *

Kirai paced around Pitch's lair. "I don't understand, I had her weakened, AND I managed to tag the Sandman, but it would seem that they are stronger than I thought."

"They managed to beat me, did you really think it was going to be a breeze?" Pitch petted one of his pet nightmares. "I applaud you for managing what you have though. The sandfreak thing was a wonderful bonus."

Pitch watched his ally pace and grumble for another minute, before it started getting on his nerves. His hand shot out and grabbed Kirai by the throat, choking him. "Shut up." He ordered, staring the younger man down for a moment to make sure his point was made. Releasing him, he allowed Kirai a moment to recover his breath.

"If her friends are helping her regain her strength, obviously, you're just going to have to try harder. Attack more people, weaken her at a faster rate than she can recover, or just hunt her down."

"If it's that easy, why don't you come help tonight?" The winged man replied testily. "I'll take point, we'll manage more that way. No reason to hide anymore, I'm sure they are on to us now."

"Fine. I could use a fight." Pitch's eyes narrowed. "Besides, it's a chance to weaken them. If they show up, we should try to separate them. Neither of us could take a group attack if it came down to that."

Kirai rubbed his hands together. "Alright, this'll be fun."


	8. The Old Dichotomy

**Another round of potential jury duty this week, and I'm also working on a costume for Katsucon this week (Sandy) so next instalment may be late, but if I don't get chosen I might be able to get in extra writing. No promises. By late I mean it may take a whole four days instead of three. Thanks for all the kind comments about the last chapter! - Not The Milk**

* * *

After a while, Annamore felt a piece of paper pressed into her hand. She looked in the direction it came from and saw Jack give her a thumbs up. She unfolded the paper and glanced at it.

No words on it, it was a series of stick figure drawings showing someone putting their arm over someone else's shoulder. She snorted slightly, wondering if he expected her to do that. Feeling a light touch on her arm, she turned her attention to Sandy. He pointed at the paper, a question mark over his head.

"Just Jack being himself." She whispered, handing him the paper so he could see what she had laughed at.

He stared at it for a moment before chuckling. "It'd be weird if I started to try to use those moves." Annamore stretched, exaggerating it as much as she could, before putting her arm over Sandy's shoulder. "See? It doesn't work when I do it." He nodded in agreement, a smile on his face. "Here, you try it instead."

She removed her arm to let him try. It felt just as silly, and forced her to lean down so his arm could reach. "Not much of an improvement, is it?" She said quietly, resting her head on him for lack of a better place to put it when leaning. He shook his head, but to her surprise didn't take his arm back. She didn't try to sit back up, despite the fact that it was a lot harder to watch the rest of the movie this way. Annamore decided that he was probably suffering residual effects from the snowballs they'd thrown earlier.

She pondered how odd things were – she was losing power, and they had to go after Hate and potentially Pitch too, and here she was watching a movie for the first time in her life with the guardians when before she'd met them she'd probably be freaking out. The cupid tried to tell herself she could probably use a little more worry, but it was pretty difficult to worry at the moment.

After the movie, they slipped through the emergency exit. "It's dark already. How long was that movie?" Bunny asked, glancing around behind the theater. "Longer than most." Jack shrugged. "Did you guys enjoy it?"

"Yes! But they didn't fight a dragon." North complained. "I thought there was going to be a dragon."

"That movie is going to be a three parter, someone said." Jack shrugged.

"Alright, let's go hunt down this guy before North decides to run away with the dwarves." Annamore suggested. "Speaking of that, now I want to see what he'd look like if he braided his beard."

Taking to the sleigh again, they flew all over looking for nightmares or traces of darker shadows. Not finding anything, they started getting frustrated. "I think we may have to split up, mates." Bunnymund suggested.

"I'm afraid to say I think you're right." Annamore admitted. Landing, they readied themselves to go their separate ways.

"Here." Bunny handed each of them an egg. "If you find yourself attacked, drop this. It'll let everyone know where you are in a hurry."

"Hey, Annamore. How can you fight? Do you plan on making your enemies love you or something?" Jack asked curiously.

She smirked. "Not all my arrows are benign. I can protect myself."

Splitting up, she took to the air and flew over streets and alleys, looking for anything amiss. The moon was pleasantly bright, making her feel bold. She had her bow ready, and her fingers tapped restlessly on her arrows. Her eyes moved back and forth across the ground. Coming to a square close to the center of the town, she paused in flight, taking stock of her surroundings. She saw a flash of gold a few streets over, and her the jingle of bells in the direction of a church tower she saw closer to the edge of town.

Out of nowhere a tall, dark clad man appeared in front of her. He grabbed her with one arm before she could react, while his other hand pressed against her mouth prevented her from calling out or screaming. "Boo." The hands owner said simply, a malicious smile on his face. He started to drag her down into the shadows, she was able to get an arm free. She slipped the egg from her pocket and smashed it into his face. He let go instantly, screaming in pain from the flash of light. Annamore herself was nearly blinded, and found herself falling along with her would be captor.

Shoving him away, she got air back underneath her wings and stopped her fall. Blinking the spots away from her eyes, she grabbed an arrow and shot it towards the man, who she could only assume was Pitch. His eyes were full of anger as they flashed up to meet hers. He waved his arm and black sand knocked her arrow out of the way. Raising his other arm, more black sand rose up and tried to grab her, forcing her to dodge. She fired again, flying straight towards him to try to avoid another attack from the sand.

He blocked the arrow again, and caught her as she hurtled towards him. One hand grabbed her wrists, while the other went back around her throat and squeezed tightly. "You seem oddly intent on killing me." He said drily, a mildly amused expression on his face. "Even the guardians couldn't do that."

"Third times the charm, I hope!" A voice shouted from below. Something made Pitch lurch forward, releasing Annamore. She dropped, her eyes watering as she gasped for air, and unable to fly from lack of oxygen. North swooped under her with the sleigh, grabbing her and tossing her into the seat behind him. She took a moment to recover. "Thanks!" She gasped, before jumping back off the sleigh and back into the fray. Pitch was distracted, dodging attacks from both Sandy and Jack. She grabbed an arrow and shot, striking true. Everyone, Pitch included, paused in shock.

Before anyone could recover, another flash-egg went off in the distance. Their eyes turned to it for only a second, but that was long enough for Pitch to disappear back into the shadows. Without a word, they rushed off to the spot that the egg had gone off in, to find Bunnymund and Tooth both looking angry, but unharmed. "That bat-winged freak tried to sneak up on Tooth. He wasn't expecting her to be much of a fight, I bet. But she's one tough sheila." Bunnymund explained.

The fairy nodded to her friend and continued the story. "Bunnymund jumped in to assist right as Pitch showed up and told him that they should make a break for it."

Jack grinned cheerfully. "It's because Anny here managed to tag Pitch. Hopefully that will slow him down a bit."

"Hey, about that…" Annamore looked between them nervously. "Remember how I said I had different arrows?"

"We aren't going to like this, are we?" Jack's smile disappeared.

"My vision was a tad hazy, OK? Being strangled is no picnic. I may have used the wrong kind of arrow on him. You never know, maybe that'll improve his personality a bit?" She offered hopefully. "Or, just as likely, he has no feelings for anyone at all, so maybe nothing will happen."

"She has a point there, mate." The rabbit leaned against a wall. "I'm not betting they'll come back out tonight."

"I agree." Tooth said, brushing her feathers back down from where they were ruffled in her fight. "We'll continue this tomorrow. Sandy, why don't you make sure Annamore gets home safely?"

"Oh, smooth." Jack whispered quietly to Tooth, his eyes sparkling with approval.

"You're a bad influence on Tooth, Jack." Annamore rolled her eyes, but was more than happy to hop into the classic plane. After they landed on the cloud, and Sandy turned to leave, she realized she was just as bad as Tooth or Jack.

"Wait." She said quietly, nervously.

He stopped and looked at her questioningly.

"Look, I know you no longer care for me in the same way as before…" She paused, thinking over her word choice. "But you said you'd still be my friend. So, as a friend, could you stay with me a while? I don't want to be alone yet. Or, I can just nap on your cloud while you work. Technically, it's your fault I'm not used to being alone anymore, so the least you can do is take-" He held a finger up to hush her, his face stern.

She stopped talking, worried she'd made things worse. He turned away from her again and gestured, making the cloud of sand form underneath them both. He glanced back again, this time with a slight smile on his face. She reached forward and pulled him into a hug. "Thanks, Sandy."

* * *

The next day was a repeat, for the most part. They went to another city, attacked people with snowballs, and went on their separate ways again. They didn't find any sign of their enemies after that first night. After a week Annamore felt her power starting to drain faster than they could replenish even with the snowballs.

She didn't need to say anything to the guardians about it, either. It was obvious from her slowly molting feathers, and how she stopped flying in front of her friends. She still could, but it was as ungainly as the flight of any fledgling bird, and she didn't want anyone to see it if she could help it. North tried to get her to stay at the pole so he could keep an eye on her, but she wasn't convinced. She was still hoping for another chance at being able to find and beat her enemies, although at this rate she'd be no good in a fight.

The guardians started taking turns showing up in the morning to make sure she was alright, before everyone gathered for the snowball attacks. Finally one morning she heard the knock on her door and was so weak she fell even as she opened the door. Bunny caught her and carried her outside, setting her down in the sunlight. "Sheila, what are we going to do with you?" He asked worriedly, sitting down next to her.

"Not sure if there's anything that can be done, but thanks for the concern." She met his eyes seriously. "Unless we figure out how to stop these guys, I'm likely a goner."

"Don't talk like that." The guardian of Easter protested. She shook her head, holding up a hand to forestall further argument. "We are a little too old to be deluding ourselves like this. I don't care if I die. I do care if love dies. Even if I get knocked out of this, I expect you guys can manage to take down Pitch again, and his little buddy too. They can't hide forever."

"We didn't plan to." A voice called out from overhead. "We just wanted to make sure you were suffering properly."

They glanced up in alarm, both grabbing their weapons, but as soon as Annamore's eyes fell on her enemy she froze in shock.

"You again!" Bunny snarled, throwing a boomerang at the man flying above them. "Get down here so I can finish you off! Anny, what are you waiting for? Shoot!"

"He's… I know him! Kirai. He's the one who…" She was shaken. It made perfect sense for him to have become hate. It also made her angry. She regained her ability to move and shot at him. Unfortunately, her weakness made her slow, and he was able to dodge easily.

"So, you recognize me, do you? Glad to see you haven't forgotten after all these years." Kirai clapped his hands cheerfully.

"Hard to forget when I've still got the scars. Don't take it personally if I hope you don't survive this time." She fitted another arrow to her bow, and aimed. He dodged again, a smirk on his face. "Really now, all this time and that's still all you can do? No wonder you're powers are failing. Personally, I want to kill you too, but someone else thinks you might still serve some purpose." He snapped his fingers and a herd of nightmares jumped onto her cloud from below and started stalking towards them from all sides.

She stood back to back with Bunny now, facing the nightmares on each side. "So, Bunny… Surrounded and on a cloud, and someone needs to tell the others what just happened here."

"You're planning something stupid, aren't you?" The rabbit's ears pointed back in annoyance.

"You know me pretty well. Take care of these for me." She quickly unsnapped the belt that she carried her quiver on, and shoved in and the bow into his paws. "I trust you guys can manage a rescue. And if not… Heck with it, tell Sandy I loved him." She used what little strength she had left to get enough lift to make it over the heads of the nightmares, much to Kirai's obvious shock. "You guys want me? Come and get me!" She dropped over the edge of the cloud, drawing off most of the nightmares and leaving a few red feathers fluttering in her wake.

Bunnymund tapped his foot quickly and hopped down the tunnel as the winged man darted off after Annamore. He was railing at himself for not having taken Annamore to the pole the instant he realized that she was that weak, but at least the others would already be assembled there by now.


	9. Wake, Dove, Stretch Your Feathers

Annamore wasn't entirely sure what to expect when she jumped, weaponless, from her cloud. She supposed she was as likely to find herself splattering onto the ground in her weakened state as opposed to being captured. To her surprise, one of the nightmares maneuvered under her and caught her. She pondered attempting to jump off the dark horse, but decided she wasn't suicidal, just crazy.

The horse stopped and floated mid-air, waiting for Kirai to catch up. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, this is awkward."

"I'm surprised you have the strength left to joke." He growled, motioning at the nightmare to follow him.

"I could probably make jokes from my deathbed." She replied, shrugging.

"You'll get to test that soon, actually." He perked up slightly at that thought.

"Yes, I'm sure I will. So, why are we delaying this likely outcome? Not that I don't absolutely relish the idea of you killing me again." She rolled her eyes, kicking the nightmare forward to get closer to her enemy.

He turned around in the air and looked oddly embarrassed. "Pitch has been acting odd all week. He insists on seeing you. You did something to him with your arrow. It's creepy. Also, how is it that you can control that thing?" He stared at her, an intrigued look on his face. "Nightmares always act up when I ride them."

"Maybe you're afraid of them." She said bluntly.

Goaded, he backhanded her. In her weakened state, she lost her hold on the nightmare and slipped off. He sighed and dropped down, catching her. Holding her so that they were face to face, he stared into her eyes intently. "Once Pitch is done with you, killing you is going to be so much fun. And I promise you, this time you won't be coming back from it."

* * *

Making it to the pole, Bunnymund burst in through the door.

The others jumped to attention, realizing something was wrong. "Bunny, where's Anny?" Tooth asked, her eyes falling on Annamore's weapons. "What happened?"

Instead of answering, the obviously distraught rabbit stomped over to Sandy, grabbed one of Cupid's arrows, and stabbed his friend without warning. He turned back and met his friends shocked faces. "They took her. That bat-winged bloke has her." He looked back at Sandy. "You hear that? That dingo has your girlfriend." Giving the entire group his attention again, he continued. "That guy was Kirai. Ring any bells?"

Jack looked confused. "Isn't that the guy who murdered her family? And her?"

"She wounded him too; they probably both died that night, and became love and hate."

"Let's go get her back!" North said fiercely, turning away and giving orders to ready the sleigh. They started to crowd for the door when a loud whip crack made them stop in their tracks. They turned to face Sandy, who was standing in the middle of the room looking furious. Having gained their attention, he nodded his thanks to Bunny, and then pushed past the others to be the first out to the sleigh.

"Glad to see you back to your normal self, buddy." Jack landed on his normal spot on the back of the sleigh. Bunny climbed in next to the sandman, too worried to care about how much the sleigh usually freaked him out. Remembering something, he leaned forward and whispered into his friend's ear. Sandy's cheeks turned red, as he turned and gaped at the rabbit, who responded by ruffling his hair. "We'll get her back, promise."

"That brings us to the biggest question… How do we find them? We've been trying all week." Tooth asked worriedly.

They sat for a minute thinking when Sandy clapped his hands for attention, a feather appearing over his head.

"What?" North tried to turn his head to see the sandman while driving the sleigh.

Tooth caught on, as a feathered being herself. "She's been losing feathers from her wings, remember? If we try looking for feathers, maybe we can at least narrow down where she went?"

Sandy smiled at the fairy, grateful she understood. They flew back to Annamore's cloud to start the search, feeling hopeful they could pick up a trail.

* * *

The rest of the flight to meet Pitch was spent quietly, Kirai put her back on the nightmare, and she rode it rather low to the ground seemingly for fear of falling again. Neither of them felt it necessary to catch up with each other's time as an immortal and they also couldn't reminisce about old times. Landing, he pointed towards a hole in the ground. "In you go."

"You have got to be kidding me." She grumbled, climbing down into the darkness.

"I think the same thing every time I come here." He climbed down after her. "Why would anyone want to live underground? Never understood it."

"You know, this is probably the only thing we'll ever have in common." She paused at the bottom of the hole, waiting for her guide to catch up. Before he made it down completely, she felt a slight surge in power. She kept it to herself, however, and resolved to continue to act just as weak as she had been. She wanted every little advantage she could get, although she wondered what could have caused it.

Kirai dropped the last few feet to the floor of the tunnel, and started leading her deeper into the tunnels. The dark, dreary, and claustrophobic conditions of this tunnel made her decide that Bunny's tunnels were paradise in comparison. After a minute of walking, she paused dizzily.

"Keep up." Kirai snarled at her, grabbing her arm and trying to yank her forward. She tripped instead, hitting her head on the side of the tunnel.

"Hello. Dying. Did you forget?" She rubbed her head gingerly. "Slow down, or shut up."

"I'm not going to carry you, if you were thinking of asking." He crossed his arms and kept walking, a little slower this time.

"Thank the moon for small acts of kindness." She snarked back.

Eventually she found herself in a larger room surrounded by broken furniture. Pitch was waiting in there, staring at himself in a cracked mirror. She stood there quietly with Kirai, waiting to be acknowledged. After a moment, she realized that he was talking to the mirror quietly.

She started giggling, the situation was slightly too ridiculous. "He's in love with himself?" She whispered to her killer. "This is beautiful."

"Do something. Fix it. Please." He looked at his dark friend with distaste. "It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

"You plan on killing me." She reminded him, trying to keep a straight face. "Why would I help you? Besides, you can fix him yourself, Hate." She sat down on a chair, crossed her arms, and leaned back. "Do the same thing you did to Sandy, you don't need me."

"You want me to stab Pitch? That'd work, but I wouldn't survive the aftermath." Hate's eyes narrowed, his voice growing firm. "Do something."

"I can hear you guys, you know." Pitch stood up and stalked towards them. "Kirai is right. If he tried to stab me, he'd be dead. Again." A slight smile twitched across his face. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"I think I heard you ask yourself who the pretty, pretty pony was." She quipped cheerfully. "Nothing wrong with that at all, although, I want to know who the pretty pony is when you figure that out."

"Stick around a while and I'll let you know." He motioned around the room, seemingly in good humor. "Make yourself at home. It's not like you'll be able to escape. Try to get out and you'll be attacked by nightmares, although I'm guessing by now, you're too weak to get out anyways."

"Why do you want me here? I can't see how I can be of any help to you." She met the eyes of her captor. "Or am I just the entertainment?"

"Fear is a funny thing. It's strong on its own, certainly, but it's always strongest if the person feeling it has felt love before. This has left me to wonder… How much more power would I get if I could make love herself fear?" Pitch's face broke into a malicious grin.

"I'm not sure how well that will work out for you." Annamore stood up and sized him up. "You've weakened me horribly, I am unarmed, I've already died once, and you intend on killing me anyways. If none of this has made me fear, what makes you think you can manage it? What do I have left to fear losing?"

"Your friends?" He pushed her back down, leaving a hand resting on her shoulder.

"Oh please. You can't handle them on your own. Five against two, six if I'm in the equation." She replied cheerfully, before Pitch's nails dug into her skin. "You really haven't thought far beyond 'kidnap the girl,' have you?"

"They may not risk attacking me if I have their friend in my clutches. I know Jack won't, at least." He laughed darkly and slipped his arms under her, scooping her up. He felt a slight shudder go through her body, likely from distaste. "I have some ideas for them, my dear. I'll start with North, I think. There's a lot of him to torture." He said casually, walking over to one of the cages hanging from the ceiling and sat her in it, facing him. "Then after him, maybe the pretty little fairy. It'd be fun to pluck the wings from her back, don't you agree." He ran his hand down her wings gently, before gripping a handful of feathers and ripping them out without warning.

She managed not to cry out in pain, but tears appeared in her eyes. He held the feathers in front of her and let her see them. A few had bits of skin attached, and she knew without looking her wing would be bleeding now. "I think I'll save your boyfriend for last… Except, wait, he's not your boyfriend anymore is he?" He dropped the feathers one by one before he pushed her away from the door, closing it on her. "I'd wish you sweet dreams, but I'm the boogeyman. I don't do sweet dreams."

"Hey, whatever happened to making myself at home?" She retorted in an attempt to look unaffected.

"I changed my mind. Besides, I like caging my birds." He walked off, leaving her alone with Kirai watching silently, a smirk on his face.

* * *

The sleigh had paused over Annamore's cloud for only a moment, Bunnymund pointing out which side she had dived off from. North dived in the same direction without a moment's hesitation, causing the rabbit to make a slight retching sound. Those who could fly of their own accord scattered to the sides to try to find a trace of the cupid.

It wasn't long before Jack shouted triumphantly, appearing holding a red feather. The others quickly fanned back out from that spot, searching for another. Bunny found the second, giving them a better hint at direction. "I'm glad there's not much wind today, but I hope she was flying low anyways." Tooth said as she waved the others towards another feather.

The feathers were relatively few and far between, but despite the slightly zig-zagged way the feathers fell, they picked up on a general direction. They started moving faster, eyes glued to the ground as they flew. After a few hours the trail ran cold, much to their frustration. "Did we miss something, did they turn somewhere?" North muttered to himself, landing the sleigh and climbing out. Bunny was quick to join him, happy to be back on the ground.

"So what do we do now?" Jack balanced on top of his staff, looking at the other guardians worriedly.

Sandy motioned for them to stay calm before closing his eyes. Tendrils of dreamsand spread out from his hands and started spiraling away from them. Unquestioningly, the rest of the guardians sat down to watch and wait, trusting their friend.

* * *

**Despite the chaos of today, I got this chapter done! It's a little shorter than usual, but the next chapter should be fun. **


	10. Cold Hands to Match a Colder Heart

**Disclaimer - this chapter is serious-ish, mean-ish, and may contain some feels. Please, please, forgive me, I can only promise you that I will make up for it in the next chapter. Also putting out another thank you to my editor, Sara, because you guys would have so many confusing typos to read without her. XD Thanks for putting up with me! - Not the Milk**

* * *

Cages were highly uncomfortable things, Annamore decided, especially when there is only sitting room. Less than an hour in one and her legs were already cramping, and she wasn't used to having to sit against her wings – most of the chairs in her house were built to allow for her wings. She was feeling weak and tired, and was having a hard time fighting sleep.

She knew Pitch was right about one thing. If she fell asleep here, she would be subjected to the form of torture he knew best. She would have preferred the physical torture to the thought of Pitch messing around with her dreams. Thinking about dreams, a thought came to her mind that made her smile, just a little. Resolving herself, she let herself drift asleep, ignoring Kirai's presence.

She was alone, human, and trapped in musty darkness. It felt like a cave system, and it felt like something was coming for her. She scrambled away on all fours, unable to help it. The last thing she wanted to be was scared, but she was surrounded on all sides by an overwhelming sense of fear. Barely able to see, she clawed her way forward, hearing wet, snuffling noises echoing around her as an unseen monster tracked her.

She suddenly stopped, touched the wall, and pulled herself up. "No. No! I will not be afraid!" She shouted at the monster, as it came closer. "Not so long as I can fight back!" She didn't question her lack of weapon. It was her dream, one would come to her. She glanced around, trying to convince her eyes to make better use of the hints of light in the cave. Her eyes fell on one little, golden glow, peeking out from a spot in the cave wall.

She started digging at it furiously with her fingers, knowing she didn't have long. The wall gave away readily, revealing a shining, gold sword. The light from the sword filled the room enough for her to see her would-be hunter. She smiled cheerfully and turned towards the sound of the monster. It was not what she'd expected – the very antithesis of the nightmares she'd been captured by. It was now a golden Pegasus, kneeling its front legs in an obvious invitation to ride it.

"Good old Sandy…" She thought to herself, running over. She knew that this wasn't the form that she should have been seeing, and that her friend's powers had seeped into Pitch's nightmare. Settling in over the winged horse's withers, the horse took off without any signal from her. The cave ceilings faded into sky, and she was free.

* * *

Pitch was staring at himself distractedly in the mirror again when Kirai stalked into the room. "Must you always act like some angst ridden teenager?" He turned to the winged man, annoyed by the interruption. "Why aren't you keeping an eye on her?"

"She's asleep, having nightmares. I don't think I need to watch her sleep. Although the whimpers she was making were amusing." Kirai leaned against a wall and raised an appraising eyebrow at the Boogeyman. "Are you sure you're going to be up for fighting? You're still not yourself."

"Are you insinuating something?" Pitch replied, glowering. "I am perfectly fine; it'd take more than Cupid's arrow to affect my ability to fight."

Kirai opened his mouth to argue when they heard a quiet giggle from the other room. They peered in, staring at Annamore's caged form. She was still sleeping, but golden dreamsand swirled above her head instead of the dark nightmare sand. Pitch muttered a curse and grabbed the cage, shaking it. "Wake up!"

Jolted awake, she blinked and rubbed a remnant of the sand away from her eyes. "Come on, that should be a crime. Ruining a perfectly good nap? You are truly a horrible person." Her eyes sparkled, just slightly, as they met his. They both knew the hideout had been found, and rescue was on the way. "Isn't this all a part of your plan?" She asked him innocently. "You want them here so you can torture them, right?"

He snarled in animalistic rage, opening the cage and roughly dragging her out to shove into Kirai's arms. "Of course it's all in the plan. I did want a little more time, though. How did they find us so quickly?" He lifted her chin to stare intently into her eyes. "What did you do, little bird?" He asked knowingly.

She smirked and wiggled a wing, molting a couple more feathers onto the floor. "I didn't do anything, you guys have been weakening me, so my feathers..." His eyes sparked in anger. "So they followed your feathers like the proverbial bread crumbs."

She chirped like a bird at him, mocking, in spite of her predicament. How foolish she was. Filled with the desire to teach her the error of her ways, Pitch reached around her back in a mild manner that belied his intentions. He could see her brace herself for a repeat of the feather ripping as his hands settled gently on her wings, pulling her away from Kirai as if he was hugging her. She met his gaze again, confused and wary. Quickly, before she could realize what he had planned, his hands gripped the upper edges of one of her wings and twisted, feeling the satisfying pops and crunches of delicate bones breaking. "Maybe now you'll think before you open your mouth." He whispered into her ear, ignoring the tears rolling down her face.

Annamore had felt the pain rip through her body so intensely that she hadn't been able to cry out. She sucked in vast amounts of air in an attempt to not pass out. The broken wing hurt her more than the wound she'd original died from, she reflected. Her captors forced her onto a nightmare again, taking her down a different tunnel from she'd entered using. They moved quickly, coming out of a hole in the ground not far from the outside of a city, in what seemed to be a little used, slightly overgrown park. A few people were nearby, but no one was concerned.

Pitch glanced around cautiously, expecting an attack from the Guardian's at any moment. He kicked his nightmare into a gallop, leading Annamore's while Kirai flew alongside them. "Yeah, no." She jumped off the side of the horse, and hit the ground rolling. It shot fresh pain through her broken wing, making her cry out in pain. Her captors spun around and Kirai grabbed her, flying up to a decent height.

"Get away from her!" She heard a welcome voice shout, followed simultaneous growls escaping from Kirai and Pitch.

"North! Guys!" She waved as they flew into sight. "Somebody catch me, will you?!" She shouted, taking the moment to punch Kirai in the nose, breaking it with a satisfying crunch. He dropped her to grab her nose. Moments before she should have hit ground, she was startled to find herself caught by Sandy. "Thanks." She smiled at him. "You're stronger than I expected."

He shook his head in apparent exasperation, before kissing her without warning. Startled, she tried to push away for a moment, before giving in. "Hey, love birds. Hate to interrupt, but we have a fight on our hands!" She heard Jack shout at them.

Landing on the ground, Sandy set her down, a question mark over his head. "I'm grounded this battle. Pitch decided it'd be fun to break a wing. Otherwise, I'm fine." The Sandman's face filled with fury as he turned towards Pitch.

Bunny hopped up next to her and pressed her weapons into her hands. "Glad to see you again, sheila, now you get to learn how annoying it is to try to fight someone who can fly when you can't." He ruffled her hair for a moment before turning his attention to the fight. Pitch was already being swung around by a sand whip and repeatedly smashed into trees.

"That's your doing, isn't it?" She asked the rabbit as she started trying to get a good shot at Kirai – which was difficult, because he was being accosted by both Jack and Tooth.

"Maybe." He grinned a bit. "I also relayed your message, might be why he's fighting so hard." She blushed slightly. "I'm thinking that this is overkill, though. Do you want to know what's sad?" She lowered her bow, giving up on being able to get a shot in yet.

"What's sad?" North asked, joining them. He had his swords at ready, but looked resigned to being out of the fight too. "I don't think Pitch is going to put up much of a fight anyways, for all this trouble. He stopped scheming to stare at himself in the mirror. He's got no plans." She grinned at her two friends. North turned her around to examine her broken wing, wincing when he saw it.

"Pitch did this?" He asked, lightly prodding her wing. She covered her mouth with a hand to stifle her urge to yell. He backed off for a moment to let her talk. "Yeah. I think he's paying for it now though." They glanced back up at the rather one sided fight happening. "Was he this easy to beat last time?"

North exchanged glances with Bunnymund before shaking his head. "No, last time he killed Sandy and weakened all of us before trying to fight us."

"Wait, killed? Then why..?" She turned her gaze back to the fight curiously, before shrugging. "If you guys still beat him when you were weakened, the dude is obviously messed up in the head to try again."

"I think fear makes people do things that don't make sense." They had to jump backwards as Pitch finally slammed into the ground mere feet from where they had been standing. His eyes were wide and panicked, and ignoring them, he scrambled for a shadow and vanished before anyone had a chance to stop him.

Kirai, seeing his ally had abandoned him, yelled in rage and knocked Jack and Tooth from him, giving him an opening. Instead of using the moment to escape too, he dropped towards Annamore, surprising them all. North reached out and grabbed her, yanking her away and blocking Kirai's sword with his own. She dropped her bow, unable to use it at such close quarters, and held an arrow like a dagger.

None of them had predicted the strength his rage had given him, though. He dove under North's guard and tripped the heavier man backwards, then blocked one of Bunny's boomerangs. The other tore through one of his wings, leaving it tattered, but he didn't seem to register the pain. He lunged towards her, stabbing. Unable to avoid the attack, she stabbed down into his arm with her arrow, even as his sword entered her stomach. His momentum knocked both of them over. Not a moment later he was dragged off by North, only to be let go of seconds later.

Annamore, who was oddly not feeling any pain, was helped up by Sandy. She noticed all the guardians were staring at her and Kirai in shock. Fighting a sinking feeling, she looked at Kirai as well. His wings and sword were gone, and he was staring at his hands in shock. As importantly, the few humans in the park were staring at them. Reaching her hands over her shoulder, she tried to feel for the wings she already knew were gone. She glanced back at her friends, trying to fight back tears.

Sandy dropped to float next to her and through the use of sand images did his best to promise they'd figure out a way to get her powers back. As the others offered her their own reassurances, Kirai was practically forgotten. No one was going to offer to help him, after all. He was as good as beaten in their minds.

"You can stay at the Pole while we work on getting your powers back." North boomed, leading them back to the sleigh.

"What about me?" Kirai asked quietly, surprising them all. They turned back to look. "What about you?" Bunnymund asked, eyes narrowed at the now powerless man. "You don't think we are going to help you get your powers back after what you did, do you?"

"You can't just leave me here!" The angry reply rang out, attracting more attention from the humans in the park.

"We can, and we will." Jack replied, hopping onto the sleigh. Sandy followed, offering Annamore a hand.

Frustrated, the former avatar of hate stooped down and grabbed a rock, pitching it at her head with amazing accuracy. She collapsed, unconscious. Tooth landed next to her, as the others tried to grab Kirai. To the humans in the park, all they saw was a man who had just attacked a woman, and was now screaming and attacking the air. One of them called the police, while others rushed forward to see if Annamore was alright.

"Sandy, get her into the sleigh!" North yelled, shoving Kirai down before the humans could arrive.

Sandy tried to grab her, only to find his hands passed right through her. Tooth tried too, to the same effect. Realizing the truth of the situation, she grabbed her friend and dragged him onto the sleigh, where they helplessly watched the scene unfold. A few men grabbed a hold of Kirai, who was still screaming and trying to fight. A minute later, an ambulance and police showed up, taking both of them away.


	11. For Memories on a Starlit Night

**First, this chapter was so much fun to write! Why it's here early. Secondly, I only have a chapter or two left of this fic, although I do have a sequel planned. Due to this, and as a thank you to you guys, I'm going to do something a little different. Any questions you want to ask the characters, or any special scenes/scenarios you'd like to see, I might write up as additions to this. - Not The Milk**

* * *

Waking up might have been the hardest thing she'd ever done, but she wasn't sure. She couldn't remember anything beyond her name, and she was in a brightly lit room that she felt sure she'd never been in before. Annamore raised her head, which started it pounding. Reflexively, she tried to move her arm to check the pounding, only to find her arm was attached to tubes. She winced, putting the arm down.

Something was horribly wrong, and she wished she knew what it was. She lay underneath a blanket that was far too thin for the temperature of the room. "Hello?" She said quietly in the direction of the door. After a minute, a frumpy looking woman walked in and smiled cheerfully at her. "You're awake! Wonderful! How do you feel, hon?"

"You can see me?" The words came out of her mouth of their own volition, confusing both her and the nurse.

"Of course. Is that unusual? Can you tell us what happened to you? Or who you are?" The lady asked, sitting down on a rolling stool and wielding a clipboard and pen.

"I think my name is Annamore." She felt she may as well answer the easy question first. "I was hoping someone else could tell me what happened to me. I have a killer headache and no memory beyond waking up a few minutes ago."

The nurse's face fell. "I'm sorry, hon. We know you were attacked, and who did it, but we can't figure out much else. You took a rock to the head and you weren't carrying ID. You do have some interesting scars, though. You must have gotten into all kinds of trouble when younger."

"And apparently, I still am." Annamore glanced out the window, as if expecting answers to fly in. "So what happens to me?"

"You'll be taken care of, don't worry. Now try to rest."

* * *

"What?!" Jack shouted, waving his hands in front of Annamore. They'd known she was human now, since people could see her, but they hadn't expected her not to be able to see them when she woke up. "Come on, Cupid! Remember!"

"Jack!" Tooth admonished, waving a hand towards Sandy. "I think we are all unhappy about this, but yelling's not going to solve anything."

The hospital room was crowded with Guardians, and everyone looked distraught. They were happy that Annamore was alive, but she was cut off from them and alone now. Jack winced realizing Sandy had the worse part of the bargain. "I'm so sorry, buddy." He put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll do everything we can to get her to remember, I promise. She's one of us, after all."

The Sandman nodded, still looking rather miserable. He sat down on the stool that had been abandoned by the nurse and watched as Annamore lay her head back down on her pillow. The others left, one by one, with promises to return again. Now alone with her, he scooted the stool closer to the bed and rested a hand on her cheek sadly, knowing she couldn't feel it. Eventually he sprinkled a little sand on her and, after a little searching through the room, found another blanket to put on her before leaving.

* * *

When she woke up for the second time, the nurse removed the IV from her arm and let her up to stretch her legs, cautioning her not to overdo it. She wandered over to a mirror and looked at her reflection. A large patch had been shaved from her head, showing a stitched up wound that was obviously the cause of her amnesia. She noted how long the rest of her hair was in comparison, and decided that the patch was regretful.

After a couple days in the hospital, Annamore was discharged with a clean bill of health. Due to the fact that she had no memories and no ID, and no one had come to claim her, despite her face being plastered on the news, she was talked to repeatedly by therapists and police. She was starting to get annoyed with them, wondering what part of 'I don't remember' they didn't get. When finally satisfied that she wasn't lying, she was taken to stay with an older couple while they figured out what to do with her from there.

Every morning when Annamore awoke, she felt like her dreams had been wonderful, but she could never remember details of them. It was incredibly aggravating to her; she was sure the dreams were keyed into her memories.

Just as odd, was her difficulty with stairs and heights. She loved being as high as she could, and had no idea why. But going back down was hard, as she felt she was supposed to be able to just jump down, no matter how high she was. Another big problem she was having was that her back felt bare, no matter what she was wearing.

She'd developed a friendship with the woman, and started helping her out in the garden. Between the two of them, they discovered that it was something Annamore was naturally skilled in. "I'm pretty sure I've done all this before." She explained to the woman as she cut squash from the vines, placing them in a basket. "I already know what to do."

After a week, she started noticing odd things happening around her. "Hey, Mary?" She asked, holding up a tomato. "Is this supposed to be frozen solid?"

"What? It's too warm for that. There's not even been a frost yet. Let me see." The older woman said, reaching for the fruit. "That's odd. It is frozen. Are you playing a trick on me?" She looked over her glasses at Annamore.

"Nope. I swear that's how it was when I picked it." The woman shrugged and let it be.

After a few weeks living with the family, she was offered a chance to go to a college. She jumped on the offer, because although she felt a little sad to be leaving the couple, she didn't want to be a burden for them. They had their own lives to live, and she wanted to try as many things as she could in hopes of jogging her memory.

On arrival, she was placed into a dorm room of psychology students. The person showing her around smiled. "We decided it couldn't hurt to let you be their homework. Hope you don't mind."

"Uh, not at all, I guess." She waved to them nervously.

The first week or so was incredibly odd for Annamore. Her gut instinct told her that she'd never been in school before, sitting at a desk felt completely foreign to her.

Her room mates were odd too, but not in a bad way. At first, she was rather nervous around them, especially since they kept asking her questions with their notebooks out. "What am I, extra credit?" was the joke that would bounce around the room once she felt herself on friendly terms with them.

She was having to take multiple basic classes to start, and one class relating to basic garden care since she enjoyed that. She'd opted to try for an agriculture science degree, since she seemed to have an aptitude for plants.

The garden class, of course, was her favorite class, she preferred being outside, unhindered by walls, with a clear view of the sky. When stuck inside for too long she found herself getting nervous. She found some of the other classes to be nerve rackingly boring, but she paid attention enough that she was scraping by.

About two days after moving in, she found baskets of colorful eggs and candy hidden amongst her very few belongings. She pulled them out, confused, and asked her dorm mates about them. "Easter eggs? But it's nowhere near Easter!" One girl exclaimed, reaching for an egg.

"What are they for?" Annamore asked, confused.

"Eating, of course!" They showed her how to crack and peel the eggs, laughing cheerfully. "Hope no one poisoned these." One girl joked as she ate a chocolate. "I'm assuming you have a secret admirer, Anny."

"Yeah, like who?" She asked, distractedly studying the dyed pattern on an egg. It looked like it'd been hand painted, covered in gold moons and stars. Setting it down, she reached for another that had wonderfully intricate snowflakes in blue and white.

"The Easter Bunny, of course!" The girls laughed cheerfully at her confusion, and she let it slide.

A few days later, a few wrapped gifts appeared at the foot of her bed while she slept, they had tags with her name on them. Unquestioningly, she opened them to find a long white coat with red wings embroidered on the back, a golden toy plane, and a snow globe with a reindeer in it – the name on the base said "Cupid". The coat fit perfectly, and made her oddly happy. She waited till her friends were awake to show them the gifts.

One picked up a piece of the wrapping paper. "Christmas gifts? What are you, friends with Santa too?"

"Maybe? Who's Santa?" She asked curiously as she walked into the bathroom. "OK, what happened in here?!"

The others rushed to crowd the doorway, staring wide eyed at the pile of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss that appeared overnight. "You know, weird things like this didn't happen till you moved in here. I'm going to guess that stuff is meant for you."

The random appearances of things kept them entertained for the next couple of weeks – no one was complaining about free snacks, after all, and something about all of it made Annamore feel as if someone was secretly watching out for her.

"Maybe it's someone you knew, and they don't feel like they can reveal themselves to you right now. That's kind of romantic." One of the girls suggested, slipping into a daydream for a moment. "Why don't you go confront the guy who attacked you? He might be able to give you a clue."

"The police told me he just screams about being an immortal, and how he hates everything, and wants to kill me again. I can't see him being very helpful. The dude's obviously insane." Annamore shrugged. "I think he claimed neither of us is human, and anyways, how can you kill someone twice?"

One day, Annamore's garden teacher brought in one of her hens that had be injured in a fight with her flockmates, stating that if anyone wanted to take the time to fix her up, they could keep her temporarily. Her hand shot up, feeling an oddly large amount of pity for the beat up bird.

Her roommates didn't complain much, except when the hen woke them up in the middle of that first night by starting to squawk madly. "She's just making sure I'm still here." Annamore mumbled softly at them, as everyone put pillows over their ears. She slid to the floor, sat next to the cage the hen was in, and opened the door. Reaching into the cage, she slid her hand up under the hen's wing and gently scratched the feathers, singing softly.

"Go to sleep my little bird, you are safe here in my home. Here there's nothing that can harm you, here bad things cannot come. Go to sleep my little bird, I will keep you in my nest. Bad dreams cannot touch you, so you will find perfect rest." She wasn't sure where the song came from, but the hen had stretched her wing out happily for the scratches, and was falling forward with her eyes closed in sleep. Closing the door, Annamore put a towel over the cage and climbed back into bed happily, wondering if that song was part of her memories.

A few more weeks went by, and things kept getting weirder for her. She'd feel someone's eyes on her when no one was there, or walk up to a puddle to have it freeze solidly when it was seventy degrees out. She even found large animal footprints that, when she tried to identify them online, looked like Bigfoot's. She often found herself dreaming of flying, which was nice, although it made giving the hen back to her teacher a little more bittersweet.

* * *

"Jamie!" Jack shouted excitedly at North, jumping up from a work bench. He'd joined North that evening to work on designing some toys out of ice, but his brilliant idea killed all thoughts of work.

"What? What about Jamie?" North asked, confused, as he put down his chisel.

"He can see us! And he can talk to her! How did I not see this before?!" Jack started hopping up and down, his hands on his head. "Sorry North, I will let you know how it went!" He ran out of the room, shouting cheerfully as he went.

"Good luck?" North told the retreating figure with a quiet chuckle.

* * *

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Annamore woke up, her mind muddled with sleep. She'd thought she'd heard someone tapping on the window, but they were on the fourth floor, that'd be impossible. She rolled over and closed her eyes again.

_Taptaptap!_

It was more insistent this time. She rolled out of bed, noting that everyone else was still sound asleep. She stalked towards the window and pulled the curtain away, letting in the light of the moon. A kid was floating outside of it, and he waved at her with a grin. She closed the curtain again and turned back around.

_Taptaptaptaptap!_

She sighed and opened the curtain again, glowering at the kid, before opening the window. He climbed into the room and promptly hugged her, startling her. "Cupid! Jack told me what happened to you!"

"I… Uh…" She stared down at the kid who was hugging her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jamie! We met at the before Easter party, remember? You flew my sister around Bunny's place!" His face fell slightly. "Jack said you'd forgotten everyone."

"Who's everyone? Who's Jack?" She sat down on her bed, believing she was dreaming. After all, a kid can't fly in through a window.

"You know, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, and of course Jack Frost!" He pointed next to him.

"But aren't they just fairy tales?" She asked him, confused. Then it started snowing in her dorm room.

"Jack says 'What do you mean, just a fairy tale!?'" Jamie smiled cheerfully, waving his hands through the air to try to catch a snow flake.

"If he's here, why can't I see him?" She stared at the snow with wide eyes before pulling her mystery jacket on over her pajamas.

"You have to believe in them to see them. The Guardian's, I mean. Jack's one of them." The kid looked back at her seriously, forgetting the snow. "And you might not have seen him, but you saw me flying, and I can't fly. Jack was carrying me."

She closed her eyes to think for a moment, realizing that something about what the boy was saying seemed true. _Jack Frost. _Thinking that name, she opened her eyes again, to see a white haired teenager with a staff standing next to Jamie. She jumped slightly.

"Anny, can you see me?" He asked, smiling brilliantly at her. She nodded, speechless.

"YES!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her out the window. "Jamie, I'll be back for you in a few minutes, OK?!"

"What are you doing?" She stared at Jack as he carried her across the night sky.

"I'm dropping you off with a friend who's wanted to see you again for a long time." He pointed ahead. "You see that golden cloud over there?"

"No." She strained her eyes to see what he was pointing at.

"Easy fix. Believe in the Sandman, and you better be fast about it." He smirked at her.

"Why?" She had a bad feeling about this.

"This is why." He tossed her into the air. "Sandy, catch!"

"Fine, I believe!" She yelped as she started falling, arms flailing uselessly against gravity. The next moment she found herself caught in the arms of a shocked looking man wearing gold clothes that appeared to be made of sand. "… Hello." She said meekly, trying to extract herself from his arms. "You must be the San-" It was her turn to be shocked as the Sandman pulled her into a kiss.

When he released her, she sat down on the cloud and covered her head for a moment to hide her embarrassment. "Let me guess… Boyfriend?"

"Oh, forgot to mention that. Sandy, she still doesn't remember us. I just got her to believe in us. You'll have to drop her back at her room later, Sandy. I need to go return Jamie before his parents realize he's missing. Anny, have fun!" She looked back up in time to give a withering glare to Jack's back as he flew off, before looking back at Sandy.

"I'm still not positive I'm not dreaming, you know." She told him. He just smiled and ruffled her hair happily.


	12. Worry Not Love, How Far You Could Fall

**Actually ended up with a couple more ideas that will extend this a little bit more than I originally expected. Thank you guys for all the comments on the last chapter, it's really encouraging! And extra thanks to my editor for complaining about cliff hangers and demanding more. 3 - Not The Milk**

* * *

After taking a minute to recover from her shock, Annamore stood carefully on what seemed to be a cloud made of gold sand and looked around. "So, you control this?" She asked the Sandman as he attempted to make himself create streams of the sand that flew off into the night. He kept getting distracted by looking at her, she noticed. He nodded in affirmation, reaching over and tugging her arm to try to convince her to sit back down.

She smiled slightly. "Afraid I'll fall?"

Another nod, followed by sand images over his head of a winged girl, pointing at her, before letting the wings fade off. "Are you saying that's me?" She peered at the image as he nodded again. "What can you tell me about… Me? I don't remember anything." She sat down again, feeling a little less nervous about her location.

He tilted his head at her, as if he was thinking how to respond. After a moment, more images started flashing over his head and she couldn't make sense of them. Suddenly, it dawned on her that he hadn't said a word to her. _Just my luck, I'm apparently dating a fairy tale and he can't even talk. _"Ah, slow down. I can probably get Jack to tell me. Or… He said there were others? Who else do I have to believe in?"

A rabbit appeared over his head, surrounded by eggs. "Oh! I know that one! Well, that does explain the Easter eggs." Next a fairy holding a tooth. "Ah, the Tooth Fairy, right? I heard the girls joking about her after that floss avalanche in the bathroom." Finally, a large man next to a sleigh, Sandy pointed to her jacket along with that.

"So Santa really did give me this?" She started laughing, flopping back to lie on the cloud. "You guys really want me to believe I'm… Cupid?" A thumbs up was her reply. "If I'm cupid, what happened to me?" He responded with another confusing scene of sand. "Ah… never mind." She sighed, frustrated.

He looked slightly hurt, making her feel guilty. "I'm not upset at you. I just thought… Well, the only people who can tell me anything about myself are legends, or something. It's kind of disconcerting. I had this dream in my head of having a family looking for me, and a home, and that if someone found me maybe all my memories would suddenly come rushing back. And I don't. Have a family, I mean. Not if I'm one of you guys."

He sat down by her head and pulled her into a partial hug, half resting on his lap, with him looking down on her face. He pointed to himself, and then made the images of the other spirits appear. "What, you guys are my family?" She resisted the urge to pull away from his familiarity. He smiled broadly in answer. She fell silent, closing her eyes to think. A moment later, she felt his fingers lightly touch the shaved section of her head, tracing the scar from the rock. During the day, she pulled her hair up in a way that hid the spot, but the scar was visible when her hair was down, as it was now.

Her eyes flew back open to meet his, and she saw obvious concern on his face. "That's fine now. It doesn't even hurt anymore, unless I do something stupid. Were you there when it happened?"

He smirked, she assumed at the memory. "You better not be laughing at me." She grumbled, disconcerted by everything.

"That's not why he's laughing." A voice rang out unexpectedly. She jumped up in shock to see a large humanoid rabbit standing a few feet away. There was a hole in the cloud next to him. She peered down it with wide eyes. "How did you..?"

"You never get tired of asking that, do you?" The rabbit laughed, pulling her into a hug. "Nice of you to start being able to see us again. What were you thinking, tormenting your friends like that?"

She glanced back and forth between the two once she was freed from the hug. "OK, maybe I really am awake. I'll give you guys that. So why was he laughing?" She pointed to the golden man.

"Sandy? Probably because he was beating the crap out of Pitch after we rescued you. Pitch had been torturing you, along with the guy who left that pretty little scar on you." The rabbit shrugged.

"Wait, torture?" She raised an eyebrow at them. "Maybe I don't want to remember after all."

"Naw, you're a tough Sheila. You were making jokes about it before you turned human. So I guess you need fresh introductions." He glanced at Sandy and pointed towards the hole. "You want to carry her, or should I?"

She back away, knowing where this was going, but found herself lassoed by a silently chuckling Sandy. "Wait, is this really-" Before she could finish her protests, they jumped down into the hole with her.

She screamed, loudly, making the rabbit cover his ears and look at her disapprovingly. "You never shouted this badly before." She stopped screaming as they slipped through the tunnels, to glower at him. "I don't remember, so you can't blame me."

They popped out in the middle of a work shop. Jack was already there, along with two people she assumed were Santa and the Tooth fairy. Santa pulled her into a bone crushing hug making her struggle for breath before he realized what he was doing and released her. The fairy hugged her too, more gently, but was staring intently at her mouth. "Anny, smile for me! I want to make sure you've been taking care of your teeth while you've been gone. I just know Bunnymund has been sending you far too much candy, if you get a cavity from it I'm going to-"

Jack reached over and poked the fairy gently. "Tooth, worry later."

After a couple of crazy minutes with all of them babbling excitedly to her, she managed to calm them down enough to get proper names from them, since they kept momentarily forgetting she didn't remember who they were. North led her to a couch and handed her a cup of steaming liquid. "Hot chocolate, your usual." She accepted it with a smile, sitting down. She noted that the scent of this place was familiar and soothing to her, lending weight to everything they would say. "Story time now?"

They obliged, and over the course of a couple of hours got a decent, if disjointed, narration of her history with them. Some questions, like what her life was like before she became an immortal, they shied away from answering. "OK, can you guys tell me how I became human again, at least?"

"That one's easy enough." Bunnymund answered. "The guy who clocked you was the incarnation of hate and you of love. You guys got each other at the same time, cancelling out both your powers."

"I see." She yawned. "Ugh, I'm going to regret this in class tomorrow."

"Class? You're going back?" North looked scandalized. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I still don't remember, and I'm still human, at least at the moment. Even if all you guys have said is true, and I'm sure it is since there would be no reason to lie to me, I don't remember any of this. And there's always a chance I never will." She looked at them with regret she truly felt. "Having met you guys, I really do hope I remember. But I have to use my head – if I don't remember, or never get my powers back, do you guys really think I'd be happy being your pet human, aging while you guys don't?"

"Oh. She has a fair point, there." Jack nodded at her, resting against his staff. "Tell you what, Anny, we'll take you back, but we won't give up on you."

"I would hope not." She smirked. "I mean, you guys have gone through all this trouble stalking me, giving up now would be silly."

"Hmmm, I have an idea that might help." Tooth said mysteriously, flying over and whispering into her ear. "Friday night, sneak out to the garden. You'll stay with me this weekend, bring whatever you need."

The guys looked mildly concerned, as if each thought they were being whispered about. "Alright, time to get you back." Tooth said loud enough for everyone to hear. Bunny tapped his foot, creating a hole out of habit. Before he could say a word, Sandy pushed him in, and then dusted his hands off as the hole closed behind the rabbit. Jack snorted, trying to hide laughter. North and Tooth looked just as amused, grinning at their friend. Ignoring them, he handed Annamore a pair of sand goggles. "Wait one moment." North handed her a small glass orb. "You left this at home before you were captured. I thought you might want it back."

She stared at it blankly. "What is it?"

"It's a magical telephone." Jack answered, opting for the simple explanation. A couple minutes later and she was riding in the back of a sand plane. "Suddenly that toy plane I got from North makes perfect sense. I take it this is a normal thing with us?" She asked the pilot as she peered over the side of the plane, looking at lights of towns and cities below. She knew they were going way faster than physics should have allowed, and figured it was another magic ability she was seeing.

Before long she was climbing over the plane's wing to push open the dorm room's window, which had been left slightly cracked by Jack and Jamie. She climbed in, then turned around to say goodbye to Sandy, only to find herself at a loss for words. She met his eyes and he smiled knowingly. She smiled back and waved – maybe she didn't have to say anything after all. Closing the window, she crawled back into her bed with the knowledge that classes were going to suck tomorrow.

* * *

The next day she found herself yawning far too much for her tastes, barely able to focus on her classes. Her roommates teased her about it mercilessly, asking if she'd been on a midnight rendezvous. "Actually, yes." Another yawn. "Discovered the sources of the mysterious gifts."

"Oooh!" Came the collective response. "You've got to tell us."

"Fine, fine. All are from people I used to know. The wrapped presents are from this extremely big, older Russian guy with an amazing beard. Apparently he calls me Cupid, which is why I got a reindeer snow globe and wings on my coat. I guess it's a joke with him." She smiled tiredly. "Then we have the rather shaggy Australian dude, who's responsible for the candy and eggs. Spring is his favorite time of year, and I guess we once had an epic Easter party dying eggs, so he's been trying to remind me of that."

The girls looked like they couldn't figure out if she was joking or being serious. "What about the floss?" One asked doubtfully.

"Ah, yes. Also apparently a friend of mine, she's in dentist school, and when she found out about the amount of candy we ended up getting… She freaked out and snuck that stuff in. Apparently I've gone on double dates with her and her boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I met him last night, too. He's pretty dreamy, and he's a pilot. He's also incredibly bright, and a bit older than I am." She tried to keep from laughing at her own little jokes, while the girls oohed excitedly at her description. "On that note, while I still don't remember anything, I get to go hang out with these guys over the weekend. Maybe something will jog my memory."

Friday afternoon she packed her back pack with a few changes of clothes and what homework she hadn't made herself do earlier in the day, glad to be escaping college for a change. She sat down against the shed that stored the garden tools, pulled a book from her bag, and waited.

"Anny!" She glanced up to see Tooth flying towards her, a smile brightening her face. "I wasn't sure you'd show up, that maybe you'd have decided everything was a dream after all." The fairy admitted, fluttering next to her as she stuffed the book back in her bag.

"It snowed in my room again last night. Pretty sure I can rule out dreaming." She grinned at Tooth. "So what are we doing?"

"Tonight we are just going to my place, although North is the only one who knows. The others might freak out a bit about that, now that I think of it." She smoothed back her feathers, laughing a little. "Anyways, since I can't fly you all the way there, I borrowed a portal from North." She held up a glass orb, larger than the one Annamore had in her bag, and tossed it down in front of them. Glancing around to make sure no other humans were around, she grabbed her friend and jumped into the portal.

Seconds later they were standing in a lovely, oriental feeling castle, with Tooth's little fairy helpers buzzing around them. Annamore fell instantly in love with the place as Tooth gave her the tour, pausing every so often to direct a little fairy as it flew up chattering. Eventually Tooth led her into one of the towers and flew up without saying a word, obviously searching for something. After some time she fluttered back down, cradling a gold box lovingly in her hands.

"You're so old that they took me a while to find." Tooth smiled at her, almost shyly now, and handed the box over. "I can't give you back all of your memories, but I can at least give you some of the ones from your childhood. Your time as Cupid you'll have to remember on your own."

"Old? How old am I?" She asked the fairy as she ran her fingers over the box, intrigued. "Probably over a couple thousand years. Still a lot younger than I am, I'm the second oldest of the Guardian's, you know. Not counting Man in Moon." Toothiana grinned cheerfully. "Anyways, I thought it'd be easier to give you these without the guys around."

"Thanks, Tooth." Annamore leaned against a wall and slid down to the floor, opening the box cautiously. Flashes of her childhood ran through her head as she was flooded with memories. Most of them were very happy for her, but by the time she was done experiencing the memories, tears were in her eyes.

Tooth pulled her into a hug knowingly. "I'm sorry."

She hugged back, drying the remnants of her tears against her friend's feathers. "Don't be. Thank you for this. I've still got a couple thousand year gap I need to fill, I guess, but this is a good start."

Eventually, they wandered back to the higher sections of the palace, spending the whole time chatting cheerfully. "You know, I should have invited you over here a long time ago, before you lost your powers." Tooth stated ruefully.

"I guess we'll just have to do this again once I get my powers back." Annamore winked at the fairy. "So what's on the agenda tomorrow?"

"Something we've not done in a long time." She replied with a twinkle in her amethyst eyes.

"What's that?"

"Another double date, according to Jack."

"I feel awkward already."


	13. Melodies of Life, Love's Lost Refrain

**Yet again a chapter that had some really fun to write scenes. Excuse me while I go wallow in my fluff writing shame. XD - Not The Milk**

The next day, as promised, Jack and Sandy showed up at Tooth's palace. Jack was perfectly fine, but Sandy was having problems with the daytime and kept falling asleep. "Hey, sleeping pilots kill people. I learned that in college." Annamore joked, attempting poke him awake. "Consider this revenge for the other night."

"It's alright, Anny. If he wants to sleep, I can fly you." Jack asserted loudly, with a smile at Toothiana.

Sandy snapped awake and grumpily waved the ice boy away. "That's more like it." Jack smirked.

Annamore leaned over and winked at him. "If I have to go on a double date, I at least expect my date to stay awake for it." She turned her gaze back to the other two. "This is no fair; I'm the only one here who can't fly."

"For now – you'll be able to fly again once we get your powers back." Tooth said optimistically, flying high into the air to lead the way. Jack joined her as Annamore climbed obediently into Sandy's plane so they could follow.

The place they were going had been decided on by Jack, it was a decent sized pond surrounded by overgrown woods, and it was obvious that humans rarely came here. Jack floated out to the middle of it, and despite the warmth of the early fall day, he started to freeze the surface of the pond.

"Why is he doing that?" She asked, sitting down on a fallen log. Sandy answered with a pair of ice skates appearing over his head.

"That sounds fun. But we don't have any skates." She smiled at the flaw in the plan. Sandy raised an eyebrow at her and grabbed one of her feet, yanking a shoe off, making her yelp. "Hey! Give that back!" She stood up and hopped after the Sandman as he waved her shoe at her, sticking it on a tree limb above where she could reach it. She sat down under the tree and grabbed her other foot protectively, giving him a look that was half unspoken challenge, half threat.

His reply was a look that said that the challenge was accepted, and threats don't work on him. Moments later she found herself tied up with a sand rope, her other shoe off her foot while she kicked her legs in protest. "That's not fair! I'm going to get you for that!"

He held the shoe out only a foot in front of her, taunting her cheerfully. He flew up and sat that next to the other one. He glanced over the pond to check Jack's progress, and saw that it'd still be another minute before the pond was frozen enough for Jack to feel safe letting her skate on it. He looked back at his captive, a slightly evil grin slowly spreading over his face.

"What fresh devilry are you planning?" She asked, struggling uselessly against the ropes, knowing some new torment was to come.

He grabbed one of her feet again and started tickling as an answer. "Aaah! Get him off! Stop it!" She laughed uncontrollably as she tried and failed to kick him away. Tooth just watched, giggling, too amused by their antics to be of any help. After a minute Jack flew back over and landed next to them, watching for a moment, an entertained expression on his face. "The ice is ready." He commented, not moving to rescue his friend.

Sandy looked mildly disappointed as he stopped tickling her feet. He used sand to form ice skates over them, releasing her. She stood up on them, legs wobbly, and stared at him as if she suspected a trap. He did the same thing for the other immortals, and then himself. Gingerly, she stepped out on the ice and tried to push out over it. Her legs flew out and she promptly landed on her posterior. Tooth skated up to her, using her wings to cheat and help her balance, and helped her up.

Standing upright, she watched Jack skate for a minute, trying to see how he was doing it. She tried again, moving her legs a little smoother, her arms outstretched for balance. It worked well for a short time, but she soon found herself getting friendlier with the ice than she'd have liked. Standing back up stubbornly, she looked over to see Sandy laughing silently at her. Narrowing her eyes, she used her few seconds upright to ram into him with all the speed she could muster, knocking him into the ice. "Hah! Who's laughing now?"

His eyes sparkled, an arrow appearing over his head pointing down at himself. "Why are you still laughing?" She raised an eyebrow, annoyed. He pulled her into a hug, his face happy. She grumbled and pushed him away across the ice.

"You guys are adorable when you're flirting." Jack joked at them, gliding by on one foot, at perfect ease on the ice.

She glowered at him and stood up again, managed to make a lap around the pond before falling this time. She stretched out on the ice, ignoring the cold, as she tried to will herself back up. "My pride is sore right now, but tomorrow my body will be sore." She watched as Sandy attempted to skate over to her and fell himself. "Hah, it's not just me!" She crowed, sitting up and scooting over to him. Standing up, she carefully offered him a hand.

To account for her niceness, she explained. "I figure if we skate near each other, I can use you as a cushion when I fall."

He smiled good naturedly at the joke, taking her hand and managing to stand without pulling her down again. Jack skimmed by again, spinning with his staff against the ice to fortify it against melting. Getting close to Tooth, he lifted the staff from the ice and grabbed her hands, pulling her into the spin too.

Annamore glanced at Sandy, whose eyes had lit up on seeing Jack's move, and admonished him before he could even think about it. She might have only known him a few days, since she had lost her memory, but she already knew how his mind worked. "Don't get any ideas. We fall enough as it is."

He pouted slightly, so she took his hand and skated forward instead, trying to use him as a counter weight. He accepted this as a decent alternative, obviously pleased she was holding his hand. They skated for another hour or so before she started feeling worn out, so she made her way to unfrozen ground and sat back down on the log. Once there, she pondered her dreamsand covered feet and wondered how to free them, and more accurately, how to get her shoes back.

"What, done already, Cupid?" Jack asked cheerfully from the ice.

"I think you're forgetting that I'm currently mortal." She replied with a grin. Her stomach added its own thoughts to the conversation. "Ah, and hungry."

"Can't have that." Jack put his staff against the ice again, using it to skate to shore. Tooth and Sandy followed, a little slower. "I figured you'd get hungry, and going to a restaurant in town when three of us are invisible would be rather awkward, so I ordered in."

"What?" Tooth looked at Jack curiously.

"Yeti's make the best delivery guys. Unless you happen to be what they are delivering, which is slightly less fun." Jack reached around a tree and pulled out a large basket. "Picnic, anyone?"

"Please tell me the elves didn't pack it. Man cannot live on cookies alone." Annamore joked as they walked through the woods, looking for a better spot to eat.

Hours later, they eventually called it a day and flew back to Tooth's palace, the guys staying with them late into the night, until eventually duty called them away. "It's time to start turning the leaves, you know. Look at the trees tomorrow and tell me what you think, Anny." Jack casually kissed Toothiana on the cheek before flying into the air. He waved as he rode the wind away.

Sandy's exit was slightly more dramatic. He floated over to her and took her hand, bowing over it and kissing it before flying away.

Shaking her head, she walked over to Tooth. "Are they always like that?" She asked, not actually complaining.

"They are usually worse." The fairy smiled cheerfully. "Not feeling any traces of your memory yet?"

"Nope, but I'm getting some odd inclinations. I really feel like I should go shoot something right now." Her hand twitched involuntarily.

The next day she was taken by magic portal back to the garden outside of her college. She hugged Tooth as she said goodbye, and thanked her for the wonderful weekend. She spent the next week walking a fine line between trying to get enough sleep to make it through classes, and hanging out with various guardians at night. She now left the window unlocked in her dorm room for easier access.

One afternoon she sat rushing through her homework near the garden, underneath one of the large trees that bordered the large area. A few students strode by dragging large foam targets and large cases, making her glance up. "What are you guys doing?" She asked curiously.

A small bodied woman smiled at her and pointed at the two men with her. "These guys bought themselves bows and are now begging me to teach them archery."

Her blood quickened and she stood up, putting her books down. "Care if I join you?" She asked with a casualness she didn't feel.

"Go right ahead. It'll be fun to have someone help me laugh at these guys." The woman, who introduced herself as Alice, waved at her to follow. They wandered over to the far edge of the field and set up the targets.

"Wish we had some bales of hay to put behind these for when you guys miss, but can't have everything."

"Would bags of leaves help?" Annamore asked curiously.

"Oh, yes! You have some?" Alice grinned broadly.

"Check near the compost pile – didn't want to add them until we turned it." She pointed over her shoulder back towards the gardens. "Just make sure you return them without arrows still imbedded in them."

"You heard the woman, go get them." The guys were pushed back the way they came, while Alice sat down on one of the targets and removed her bow, checking it over. "Haven't used this in months, been too busy."

The guys came back and piled bags of leaves behind the targets, and got to work learning how to shoot.

Annamore watched for a few minutes, an odd expression on her face. The woman eventually glanced at her and noticed. "Ever done this before?"

"Supposedly. I hear I was a pretty good shot, too."

"Wait, are you that girl who lost her memory?"

Nodding, Annamore stood up and walked closer, holding out her hand. "May I?"

Shrugging, Alice handed her the bow. Holding it in her left hand, Annamore found it incredibly familiar and reassuring. She picked an arrow up out of the case and turned to the guys, a smirk on her face. "Move over, kids. I'd hate to tag you."

"Kids?" One of the guys commented, a grumpy look on his face.

"You heard her. You can argue with her if her aim is worse than yours, and it'd take effort to be that bad." Alice dragged them off to the side, waving off their protests.

Raising the arrow to the string, Annamore realized that she'd probably never used this style of bow before, but she ignored that. She drew back the string with the assured confidence that only years of doing that could have given her, while she didn't remember doing it, it was clear her muscles did. Within seconds, she'd released the arrow, and it struck the target nearly in the center. Frowning at the target, she stooped for another arrow and waited a few seconds. She fired again.

A few minutes later she'd exhausted the arrows and the targets were looking porcupine-like. Her breathing was heavier than normal; she felt a slight tremor in her muscles. It wasn't from the effort, either. She looked back at the people whose practice time she'd taken up and saw something like awe on their faces. "Oops! I'm sorry about that." She handed the bow back to Alice, a little sheepishly, and ran off.

She grabbed her back pack from where she'd left it and ran behind the shed, sitting down against it to deal with the images slowly flooding her mind. Her head started pounding, especially near her scar, making her press against it with a hand. _Two thousand years of memories. They were right._ She thought to herself, a little sadly. She hadn't minded the human body too much before, but now that her memories as Cupid were starting to trickle in, she really started to miss her wings and her home.

After dusk fell, a familiar gold cloud approached. She stood up and waved at it, with her headache having subsided she felt like a new person. A stream of sand dropped down to the ground and formed itself into a rope ladder. She climbed it cheerfully, looking over the cloud with what felt like new eyes. Sandy questioned how her day was wordlessly, making her smile. "Hmm, how should I put this? Today was this good!" She tackled him and kissed him, trying not to laugh at his obvious shock. After he had a moment to recover, she grinned impishly. "Let's get to the Pole, space jockey. I have some good news."


	14. Drawing Lines in the Sand

**Sorry for the delay guys - had to do my best to finish my costume for Katsucon this weekend, and also had to prepare for a hopeful hatchling. But here's another chapter, and we've still not reached the end, thanks to some lovely ideas from someone (*cough*Sara*cough*) who hijacked my laptop and started writing suggestions in my fic. Hope you enjoy! - Not The Milk**

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Instead of listening to her orders, the still recovering Sandy questioned her intently.

"Yes, I have my memory back. Apparently all I needed was a good round of target practice." She replied, holding up her right hand proudly. "Might end up with a blister or two – this human body is a bit softer than my old one."

He tweaked her nose gently. "Oh, I guess I should let you stand up if I want to go somewhere, shouldn't I?" She smiled and stood up, babbling cheerfully. "Sorry, it's just good to be back. Mostly back. Just need to get the wings again and I'll be back in business. Not that being human isn't entertaining in its own right. I'd forgotten what it was like, I guess."

She looked back at him, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Want proof that I'm back?" A question mark was her answer. She winked at him and ran for the edge of the cloud, back flipping off of it before he could protest. "Catch me!" She shouted as she recklessly fell towards the ground. Moments later her waist was wrapped by one of his whips as he yanked her back up. Catching her, he tried to give her an admonishing glare, but couldn't hold the look. "I needed that."

Shaking his head at her antics, he more than willingly made the plane and sped for the pole, as eager to share the good news as she was, although he doubted anyone could be more pleased than himself. Arriving, she grabbed North's hands and pulled him into a dance, confusing the big man. "What's this?"

"My memory's back!"

"Wonderful!" He gave her one of his big hugs, taking care not to crush her this time. Eventually the other guardian's trickled in to congratulate her and offer encouragement. "That's one step down. Just need to get your powers back now." Tooth grabbed her in a hug, lifting her into the air.

"Step by step, right, Tooth? Now that I'm back here," She pointed to her head after the fairy set her back on the ground. "I was hoping someone might have some ideas on how to get back there." She motioned to the sky. "I couldn't spend too much time thinking about how to do that before I gained my memories back, after all."

North ran his hand over his beard, deep in thought. "I tried to talk to Manny about it, but not had much luck. Also talked to many other spirits and they have never heard of any of us becoming human again either, so no one knows what to do. I believe that the answer is here, though." He pointed towards her heart. "You'll find the answer; I feel it in my belly."

"Well, until then, I think we should do something very important." She looked between the Guardians, her face deadly serious.

"What?" Bunnymund asked curiously.

"Celebrate the return of my memory. I require shenanigans." She smirked at them before wondering aloud, "What should we do to celebrate?"

Before anyone could answer, Sandy whipped a strand of the golden sand around her waist, pulling her to him without warning. He grabbed the collar of her coat and firmly planted his lips against hers, kissing deeply, as if to make up for many missed kisses. He ignored the reactions of the other Guardians – he knew they'd understand, and even if they didn't, he didn't care.

She was breathless and blushing when he released her, but she didn't look at all displeased. "Not quite what I meant, but I guess that does count for shenanigans."

North waited a moment to be sure they were done having their moment. "I know a place we can go to celebrate. But we'll need clothing. Hold on." He left the room, leaving the others puzzled.

"I wonder where he has in mind." Tooth looked at Jack, figuring that if anyone might know, it'd be him. Jack did spend a lot of time with North these days, after all.

"Sorry. I have no idea either." He said, taking her hand and stroking it unconsciously. "I'm as confused as the rest of you."

A minute later North barged back in, wearing a red shirt covered in gold pineapples, a pair of shorts, and sunglasses. He was carrying multiple bags, which he passed around. "Go, put these on."

Annamore reached into her bag and pulled out a bathing suit, then looked back at him quizzically. "I don't even know what to think of this, North."

"Beaches are great places to celebrate." He stared at them hopefully.

"Can't argue with that. I've never been to a beach before, except when freezing it. This could be fun." Jack added thoughtfully.

With few attempts at arguing from the rest of them, they changed into the various clothes provided by North. Meeting back up, it was decided that the best way to travel was by tunnel. Before anyone could grab her, Annamore took a deep breath and jumped in on her own. After they popped out on the outskirts of a beach she commented. "I still don't like that, but it's a lot easier without my wings in the way."

Shielding her eyes from the sun, she peered down at the beach, noting happily that it was empty. It also had bigger waves than she was expecting. They walked out to near the water's edge, setting down the bags they brought with them.

"So does anyone know if spirits can sunburn?" Jack questioned, looking at his pale arms. He was in swimming trunks, but had a short sleeved shirt on for the moment. All the guys had on shirts similar to North's, which amused the girls. Tooth didn't need any clothing, but she was wearing a sarong just for something new. "No idea, but I know I can now." Annamore shrugged, laying out a towel to be ready for later.

"You should let Sandy rub some sunblock-" She punched Jack in the belly before he could complete the sentence, stalking off to poke a toe into the water, Tooth joining her. "Or not. A little sun damage never hurt anyone…" He rubbed his stomach gingerly.

"Well, mates. Up for a little surfing?" Bunny winked at his fellow guardians.

"You don't have to ask twice." Jack replied, running excitedly for the water, before stopping suddenly leaving frozen skid marks in the sand. "Wait, we don't have surf boards."

"Yes, we do." Annamore called cheerfully from where she was splashing in the shallow waves.

"Where?" North asked, looking around for the surf boards.

She pointed at Sandy, who was looking amused. "Just ask Sandy to make you some from sand."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Bunnymund scratched behind his ears, looking slightly embarrassed. "You good for that, mate?"

He nodded and made them all surf boards. Annamore walked out of the water and poked at one, before looking at him. "I guess going to the beach isn't all that exciting for you since you live on one, is it?"

He smiled and indicated there were a few differences that made this trip exciting. "Like what?" She eyed him curiously. He made a sun out of sand for his first point, and then indicated the presence of his friends for the second. Finally, he pointed to her bathing suit and winked.

"All of those are fair points." She shook her head ruefully. "Now let's go learn how to surf, and if your surf boards make me sink into the ocean, and I end up eaten by a shark, I'll be very cranky."

Everyone had managed to surf with varying degrees of success. Jack would have been decent at it except he kept accidentally freezing waves when he got excited. North had a hard time staying balanced, which he blamed on a waterlogged beard. Tooth took to it pretty naturally, having extremely good balance. Sandy seemed like he was doing well until Bunny realized that he was cheating by floating the board an inch or two over the water. Annamore wasn't too bad for her first round, but she kept trying to balance with wings that weren't there.

Eventually they grew tired of the water, retreating back to the beach. Annamore rested on her towel to dry off in the sun, amused that by now it was probably midnight for her body, but it was probably no later than two in the afternoon on this beach. Lulled by the warmth of the sun, and how late it felt to her, she started to drift off.

A sudden shadow woke her back up quickly. Sitting up, she cracked an eye open to see Sandy had walked up to her. He pointed back down at the beach, and her eyes followed, seeing Tooth burying Jack in the sand.

"You want to play in the sand?" He nodded enthusiastically. "… You live on an island made of sand. You're _made_ of sand. And you still want to play in it." It was a statement, tone half disbelief, half that said she shouldn't be surprised after all.

She stood back up and tried to glare accusingly at him, failing miserably as she grumbled. "I thought you didn't like to wake people up." He smiled knowingly, taking her hand and leading her down to where Jack and Tooth were playing. They passed North and Bunny, who were having a quiet argument about surfing. "I'm telling you, your face fungus can't make you lose your balance!"

Settling on a good spot, they sat down on the beach. Feeling that making tools from sand would be cheating, Annamore grabbed a few clam shells that were scattered about and handed one to Sandy. She pondered what to do for a second, and then pushed him over. "Lay still. I want to try something." She started tracing his outline in the sand, not sure how it'd turn out. "Some of the girls at college were doing this with chalk. It looked kind of fun."

Finishing, she added some artistic spirals in the sand around him then sat back, motioning for him to float up. "Alright, what do you think?" He nodded his approval then pointed for her to lay down now.

She closed her eyes against the sun when she lay down, and started dozing again despite the slight tickling that went with someone tracing her outline in the sand. After a minute or two she felt a light tap on her foot. She sat up carefully to try not to disturb the sand. Sandy held up a finger and used his dreamsand to lift her instead, giving her a better view. Taking cue from the spirals she had drawn around him, he'd drawn wings around her. Setting her down, he looked at her questioningly. "Yes, I like it. A lot."

She smiled and sat back down, digging in the sand much like she used to when she was a child. She started to work building a sand castle, with the others soon joining her. Before long they had it 3 feet tall with multiple towers, and North had dug a moat with one of his swords.

Annamore eventually scooted back and watched them work, feeling tired but very happy. When the castle was finished, Sandy sat down next to her again. "Our castle got hijacked, but I'm not complaining." She commented to him quietly. He ruffled her hair and pointed out how long the hair over her scar was starting to get. "Yeah, no longer have to hide that. Now people think I'm a punk, instead of head wound Harry."

He laughed silently then made the shape of her home cloud. "It's still around?" She asked, mildly surprised. She'd expected it to have vanished when she became human. He nodded and asked if she wanted to go see it. "Yes, please!"

She said good night to the rest of the Guardians and climbed into the now waiting plane, eager to see how her home had fared in her absence. The ride took them back to the night side of the planet, which was fine by her. Landing, she stepped out cautiously, almost afraid her old home might reject her in this form. Assured the cloud held her firmly, she walked through her now overgrown garden, full of shadows in the moonlight. "I'll have my work cut out for me when I get back here for real." She commented to Sandy as she gently touched a pest eaten leaf.

She walked closer to her front door, glancing behind to make sure Sandy was following, and pushed it open. Her last memory here involved nightmares, and she was half worried that maybe they could have tainted her home, somehow. There were no lights on in her house; it had been lit with her magic before she lost her powers. However, there were two sources of light. One was the glowing flowers made of dreamsand, still in their vase after all this time. The other was Sandy himself. He walked forward and touched them before turning and smiling at her, holding out a hand.

She reached out and took it, suddenly so glad to be home. She wanted to stay here for the night, but didn't want to be alone. Sandy, reading her expressions, nodded and led her to the couch and held her in his arms. Within a minute she was sleeping peacefully, a bright smile on her face. He sighed happily and watched her sleep.


	15. Love's Like a New Straightjacket

**Next one's probably not going to be posted till sunday or monday night - have a convention to go to and I'm working solidly around it, no recovery time. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, some parts of it were very fun to write. - Not The Milk**

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The sunlight shining in through the window eventually woke her up. Something was different, and it took Annamore a moment to figure out why, with her mind still clouded as it was with sleep. She felt breathing on the back of her head, and arms around her shoulders.

She opened her eyes and glanced around the room, taking care not to move. Her eyes wandered over the place that had been her home for over a thousand years. It felt weird to realize that she was currently living elsewhere, and would have to continue to until she gained her powers back. She sighed sadly, which caused the still sleeping Sandy to instinctively snuggle her closer.

That made her smile again, so she very carefully loosened his grip enough to roll around, hugging him back. He cracked his eyes sleepily, causing her to give him a quick kiss. She soon fell back asleep.

Later the growling of her stomach convinced her that it was finally time to wake up for real, prompting her to sit up and stretch, slipping out of Sandy's arms. She stood up and walked into her room for some clothing. She was still wearing a bathing suit and a sarong, and she couldn't show back up to college wearing that. Putting on her traditional silver and black outfit, she walked back into the living room to see that Sandy had sat up too. "Let's see if there's anything we can scrounge from the garden." She suggested, pointing outside.

Nodding, he followed her outside. "Ugh, this is going to take more work than I expected." She said, getting a better view of how overgrown her garden had become in the time she'd been away. "You wouldn't think that I'd get weeds up here, right?" She asked him as she investigated one plot, kneeling down and yanking up a weed, holding it up as evidence. "The birds accidentally bring the seeds with them when they fly up here, so no matter what I try, I always get some." She tossed it into a basket and stood back up.

She found some fruits that had been growing just fine in her absence. She had a small orange tree, and a grape arbor that were producing, and not overly pest attacked. Sitting out in the sun, they ate cheerfully, listening to the songs of the birds that had flown up for the day. They seemed overjoyed to find their old friend back on the cloud, and outdid themselves with singing that morning, much to her delight.

Finishing their fruit, she stood up and looked around regretfully. "I guess I should get back now. Bad enough that I skipped classes today. Explaining my sunburn will be interesting, too." She glanced at Sandy and saw he was shaking his head emphatically. "Come on, I'm not really back permanently yet. This was a good step, but I think I'll need to continue living with humans while I still am one." She ruffled his hair sadly, not wanting to go.

He shook his head again and gave her a firm look. Shapes started appearing over his head at a dizzying rate, but she was able to get the gist of what he was trying to get across. "You only just got me back, so you're not going to let me go again?" He nodded, obviously pleased.

On one hand, she found his thoughts rather endearing, on the other she could be just as stubborn as he was. "I don't know if you remember this or not but I can't fly right now. Living alone and trapped on a cloud except when a babysitter is around isn't really my cup of tea. You should know me better than that."

He smiled at her and created a large pod of dream whales, leashing them to the edge of her cloud. "What are you doing?" They started flying forward, pulling the cloud forward. "No, Sandy! Wait!" The cloud hadn't gone far when it stopped with a terrifying shock. She flew into him with a yelp. The whales continued to try to pull it, causing the whole cloud to start quaking dangerously. "The anchor!" She yelled. "It keeps it from blowing away when I'm not here!"

He made the whales stop and let her regain her balance, before walking to the edge and peering over it. "Have you come to your senses yet?" She asked, trying to catch her breath. He grinned at her in reply and shook his head. "That's what I thought." She sighed and sat down. She had no doubt she'd get him to see things her way, but it was probably not going to happen until after she let him get his mischief out of the way first. His odd ways were just one of the reasons she liked being around him, after all.

A minute later, ropes of sand lifted the rock anchor onto her cloud and set it down. She would have been able to do that herself, if she'd had her powers. The whales started pulling the cloud again; only this time there was no jolt to upset them. She wandered back to her garden so she could tend it while waiting to find out what Sandy had planned for her cloud.

It was slow going, taking up a decent portion of the day. Finally, they drifted to a stop and the whales were dismissed. Sandy waved her over to the edge of the cloud and pointed down below. She peered over to see his sand island underneath, while he pushed her anchor to drop onto his beach. Proudly, he made a tower of sand come up to meet her cloud and motioned for her to open the door that formed in the tower. She obliged and stepped inside.

It was a room shaped much like a modern elevator, with a simple lever. Joining her, he pulled on the lever, proving her impression that it was an elevator as they descended down to the island below. It dropped at a fast rate, but had slowed down enough as they neared the bottom that she wasn't worried. Stepping out into his sand castle, she shook her head, amused.

He gave her a slightly abashed look, as if he had finally realized that moving someone's entire home without her permission may not have been the best idea. "Well don't look sorry about it now, you should have listened earlier." She admonished, trying to look upset but failing because the magnitude of what his actions suggested was finally dawning on her.

Noticing her slight failures at looking angry, his eyes twinkled a little. He pointed out a window at her cloud, inviting her to look. She stared up at it, not used to seeing it from below. "Aren't you worried it'll subtract a little from how cool your castle looks?"

He shrugged, obviously not caring. She pulled him into a hug and held it. "Look, I'm glad I got you back too, but I can't live as a pet, even if the company is nice." She pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes, trying to ignore the bit of pain she saw in them, and continued. "I will be getting my powers back though. And if my cloud is still hanging around here when I get them, well, I might be able to live with having a neighbor." She felt her face flush slightly, with more than just the light sunburn she was sporting.

Instead of answering her outright, Sandy pulled her into a kiss. It was very different from the one he'd given her the previous day. It made her heart feel like it would stop, feeling happy and just slightly sad at the same time. It was more intimate, although whether that was the kiss itself or the lack of people watching, she wasn't sure. There was also a strength of promise behind it, surprising her. When they parted, both breathing heavier than usual, he gave her a look that implied that was his answer.

She nodded, now flushed far more than slightly. "I'll try not to take too long getting my wings back, then."

He nodded and took her hand, leading her outside. They stopped to look at her cloud again. "I hope the mermaids won't mind that addition." She said, glancing around. A few mermaids had popped up onto the beach and were peering curiously up.

Forming the plane, they took off and headed back for the college. By the time she climbed into the window, night had fallen again. She opened the window and climbed in, to the shocked expressions on her roommates face. "Hi, guys?"

"Where've you been?" One asked, staring at her curiously. "Are you sunburned?"

"I was at the beach, not sure what country I was in though." Annamore replied innocently.

"How does that work?" Another asked dubiously.

"Remember my boyfriend is a pilot?" She grinned cheerfully.

"How did you get in the window? There's no way to climb up. Or down, for that matter."

"Again. Pilot boyfriend. Remember?"

"He… Flew you to the window?"

"Yeah. It's a stealth plane. That's why you didn't hear it." She struggled to keep a straight face. "It's a new model, very hush hush."

"Sometimes we can't tell if you're BSing us or not…"

"You guys wouldn't believe any possible answer I could give." She grinned at them cheerfully.

"Try us."

"I used to be Cupid, I'm dating the Sandman. I regularly hang out with Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Jack Frost. I'm living as a human right now due to a fight between us and the Boogeyman. Now, one of my stories is actually the truth. I'll let you guys figure out which is more believable." She winked at them, grabbed her pajamas, and walked into the bathroom for a much needed shower.

In the morning she caught a bus into the city, moving quickly and looking behind her regularly, to make sure she wasn't being followed. She was sure if any of the Guardians knew where she was going, they would have tried to convince her not to. And knowing her friends, she wasn't entirely sure North didn't have a Yeti tailing her when in public to make sure she was safe.

Stepping off of the bus, she reached into her bag and pulled out a paper she'd printed out with a map, compared street signs, and started walking. "This was a lot easier from above the streets." She mumbled, glowering at cars. She never had to worry about being hit when crossing the streets before.

Eventually, she made it to her destination. Walking in, she filled out a form stating who she was, and why she was there. After verifying her identity with her college ID, and giving them a note from the police that gave her permission to talk to Kirai, they escorted her into the psychiatric ward.

The former avatar of hate met her eyes when she walked into the room, obviously surprised. He was wearing a straightjacket, had dark circles under his eyes, and bruises on his face. After he recovered from his surprise he started chuckling, a little manically. "Well, I didn't get to kill you, but at least you're stuck in the same boat with me."

She sighed, shaking her head. "I see you're the same as ever. You know, that little rock trick of yours caused me no end of trouble."

"So I heard." He smirked. "I saw your buddies panicking around you before I was dragged off. No one else could, of course. The looks on their faces when they couldn't touch you… I take it you've remembered them again now? I doubt you'd be here otherwise."

"I have regained some memory." She spoke carefully, in case they were being listened to. "I was curious to know if you knew of any way to… Unground oneself?" As a fellow flier, he had no problem understanding what she meant. He made an ugly, bitter sounding laugh. "Do you really think I'd still be here if I did?"

"I figured you might like the company." She shrugged. "Your jacket suits you, after all."

"You wasted your time. We'll be stuck like this, among mortals. We are going to grow old and die like animals. It's filthy and appalling." He ranted, his eyes taking on a tired look. "I would hasten the inevitable end, if I could."

She stared at him, surprised, as things clicked into place. "… Kirai… Have you been sleeping?"

"Sometimes. When I can't fight it off anymore." He shuddered slightly. "The nightmares… I know he's been coming in here at night. He loves this kind of place. And now that he's found me, he takes special pride in showing me his handiwork because I can see him."

"And the bruising?" Her eyes met his calmly.

"For a while, I'd whack my head on things to try to prevent sleep. That's when they put me in this, moved me to a padded room. I'm a danger to myself, you know." He said, with what felt like an odd hint of pride.

"But… It's just dreams. Nightmares can't actually hurt you." She almost wanted to feel pity for him, but this was a man who killed or tried to destroy everything she'd ever loved, and tried to kill her too.

He shook his head. "You can say that because you're not getting Pitch's best work every night. Your boyfriend see's to that."

She smiled slightly at the thought. "You've got that right. Well, if you've got nothing helpful, I'm not sticking around. But I will suggest one thing."

"What?" He gave her a sharp look.

She took a deep breath, hoping she was doing the right thing. "Try to can the 'mortal' talk – you're human, you've always been human. Just like me. There's no such thing as the Boogeyman or the Guardians. They're all kid stories that you are too old to believe in now."

With that she marched out, resolving to ask Sandy if he would send Kirai dreams with false memories. It's not that she cared what happened to him, she told herself, but he'd be less of a danger to others if he was mellowed out a bit. She hopped a bus again and headed back to campus, wondering what to try next.


	16. Broken Wings are the Best to Soar On

**Well, this is the final main chapter. Thank you guys so much for reading this and enjoying it. It means the world to me 3 That being said, there will be a little more after this, mostly to link into the begining of the sequel. Again, any requests for things you'd like to see, or would like addressed, please feel free to ask. Also note there is now a pretty picture to go with this - a friend was kind enough to draw Annamore and Sandy for me (suddenlysencha on Tumblr) go and give her love because she's awesome and draws lots of pretty RotG stuff. The sequel may be a few weeks in coming so I can work out some plots for it, but I'm only saying that to give myself plenty of wiggle room. It probably won't be that long. XD - Not The Milk**

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A few days after her encounter with Kirai, she told Sandy that she'd gone and visited him, and after he expressed his distaste for the man, listened to her description of Kirai's physical state. "I can't stand him either, of course. I think I'm first in line on that list." She admitted, shaking her head. "But the amount of fear he's giving off is probably boosting Pitch's power, and I'd honestly be happier if he forgot us entirely. As long as he remembers us, he poses a threat, but if he starts to think all of this was a bad dream, than he may never seek to get his powers back. If it's even possible, I mean."

Sandy thought over her argument before nodding, deciding she had a good point.

The weeks passed, the leaves finished falling, and it was nearing the end of October. Annamore was starting to feel slightly depressed, as she couldn't figure out any way to get her powers back. She no longer cared as much about her studies; although she continued to try to keep her grades up to make sure she wasn't kicked out.

She had tried multiple times throughout the passing weeks to talk to the Man in the Moon, hoping that he might help her, but he was being entirely uncommunicative. One night, fed up, she snapped at the unhelpful moon while on a walk. "Come on, human or not, I know you hear me! Answer me!"

One evening her classmates invited her to a Halloween party. "Costume party, of course. Bring your invisible friends too, alright?"

She laughed a little. "Sure. Remember who they're supposed to be."

"Yeah, yeah. See you there."

The Guardians seemed as amused as she was, and agreed to come. "At least if I end up surrounded by drunks, I'll have a few sane people to guard me. North, can you help me with my costume?"

"Sure, what are you going as?" He looked at her curiously.

"Myself." She winked at them. "And I expect you guys will come as yourselves."

"You do realize they aren't going to be able to see us, right?" Jack smiled at her.

"Just leave that to me." She assured them, taking it as a personal challenge.

On Halloween, she showed up early to the party, wearing perfectly feathered wings made for her by North, and her normal "work" outfit. She even had a small toy bow and sticky arrows to finish the look, which pleased her.

Her roommates grabbed her and shoved a drink into her hands. "You guys keep that. I have a feeling I'll have to play baby sitter when my other friends arrive." She handed the drink back. "Now, before they can show up, I need you guys to do something for me."

They looked at her curiously. "What do we need to do?"

"I need you to believe in them. Otherwise, they won't come." She looked at them very seriously. "They'll know if you don't believe in them."

"You're kidding." They rolled their eyes at her.

"Nope. Since my friends are invisible, you can't see them until you believe in them." Her face cracked into a smile. "They're waiting, you know."

They gave in without too much grumbling – the fact that they'd started their drinking before she got there helped immensely. "Now close your eyes and believe in all of the things you believed in when you were kids."

When they opened their eyes again they saw the Guardians standing around Annamore. "Nice entrance." One commented to them, looking confused. "You guys went all out on your costumes, didn't you?"

North grabbed Tooth before she could stick her hands in the girl's mouth and answered. "Ah, yes. Been long time since we could dress up."

Another reached out and touched Bunnymund's fur, which made him twitch slightly in amusement. "Whoa, you're soft! This fur almost feels real." She started scratching behind his ears, making him thump out of reflex.

He recovered long enough to catch her hand and stop her furry investigations. "Whoa, Sheila. You can't just go around doing that. It's dangerous."

Jack snickered at him. "Actually, try under his chin. That's his favorite spot."

Her roommates paused to study the group a little better. "Wait, so does that mean that one's your boyfriend?" They pointed at Sandy, looking confused.

"'That one?' That's rude, isn't it?" She shook her head at them, putting her hand on his shoulder as he regarded them with slight annoyance visible on his face. "His name is Sandy, and yes, he is."

"… He's glowing."

"And you're drunk. But you'd be amazed what can be accomplished with the right kinds of paint." He looked amused by her explanation, calming down. He patted her hand and started to walk away to join Jack in making fun of Bunny.

"Can't he talk?" Another asked, staring at him with an odd look.

"Oh, I forgot about that. He's mute, but you forget that after a while. He can get his thoughts across just fine." Having heard that, he paused in his walk to turn and flash a pleased smile at Annamore.

They looked back at her like she was a little crazy, but that only made her smile more. "How do you forget something like that?"

"It's hard to explain." She waved them off and wandered off to rescue Bunny, who was being scratched again, this time by another girl. She gently took the drunken girls arm and looked at her admonishingly. "You'd better be prepared for a relationship with him if you're going to be doing that."

"Is he a furry?" The girl asked, wide eyed.

"I… Have no idea what that is." Annamore led the girl away and sat her on a couch, handing her some water. Returning, she saw that North was carefully battling to keep his beard from being tugged. She shook her head and turned towards Tooth. "So, I feel bad for them, but at least they are leaving our 'costumes' alone. The guys are good for distracting, aren't they?"

The fairy laughed a little, looking at the guys with sympathy clear on her face. "This is very different from the Christmas parties we are used to. This is Pitch's night, so I don't think we've ever done a Halloween party before." She sounded a little regretful. "All the Halloween candy… This night is terrible for children's teeth!"

"Tell Sandy to give them all dreams of brushing their teeth tonight." She winked at Tooth.

"Actually, tonight is Sandy's busiest night, even without orders from me." The fairy glanced up thoughtfully. "When the kids get scared from movies, or haunted houses, and scary stories, that's when Pitch gets to sneak in the most with his nightmares."

"Oh. That makes sense." Annamore felt suddenly guilty. "Why would he have come then? This party isn't important!"

"But you're here, right?"

"Yeah, but… The kids need him tonight more than I do." Annamore stood up, determination in her eyes. "Will you forgive me for bailing on you guys after inviting you here?"

Tooth got up and gave her a hug, surprising her. "You're leaving us because you're more concerned about the children than you are about having fun yourself. Forgive you? I'm proud of you."

Running out of the room, Annamore quickly tracked down Sandy, who was being interrogated by one of her roommates. He seemed amused by her attempts to understand his specialized form of sign language. "Anny! I see what you meant earlier when you said he could get a lot across." The tipsy girl said cheerfully. "But how does he do that? Best costume effect I've ever seen!"

Ignoring her, Annamore grabbed him by his collar, glaring at him. "We're going. Right now."

He raised a question mark at her, but she didn't answer, leading him outside in silence. Once outside she bent down and kissed him on the forehead, confusing him further. "You little jerk. What are you doing coming to a party with me when you have some very important work to do?"

His confusion melted into a broad grin as he understood, and he held his hand out to her. Taking it, he formed the sand cloud under them both. Two of the roommates had followed them out and were staring at them as they started floating into the sky. "Oh, allow me!" She said, eyes sparkling mischievously. Sandy smirked and motioned for her to go on. She reached into the sand beneath her and formed a pair of sand balls, tossing them down onto her roommate's heads. They looked momentarily shocked before slumping over asleep on the porch.

Shedding her fake wings, she sat near the middle of the cloud next to him while he began his nights work, leaning against him. "Honestly, this is better than any party. Felt weird to have other people able to see you, that aren't kids, I mean."

He nodded, but indicated that he thought that it had been fun, and her roommates had entertained him. "They didn't interrogate you too hard, did they?" He shook his head, blushing slightly, making her smile more.

Releasing streams of golden sand, he looked over to see her shivering slightly. Noticing his look, she shrugged. "Costumes aren't the warmest things, and jackets and wings don't mix in any form." He pondered for a second, then attacked her with sand before she could protest.

When he was done, she looked down, confused. She'd been expecting to fall asleep from his sand, but found herself clothed in it instead. It surrounded her like a close fitting gown, and she had a large pair of golden wings too. He gave her a sideways look, obviously pleased with his handiwork.

"Well, that's one way to keep me warm." She gingerly touched one of the sand feathers on the wings. "Aren't these a little overkill?"

Instead of answering, he flicked a finger at her, making the wings stretch while raising her a few feet above the cloud. He followed up with a flick of his wrist, sending her spiraling around the cloud as if on a circus ride. She laughed, relishing the sensation of flying again without someone or something having to hold her directly. Even though Sandy was in control of her flight, the movement and wind felt incredibly freeing. After a few minutes of treating her like a remote control helicopter, he landed her gently on the cloud.

"Thank you for that. I needed it." She hugged him then gave him a gentle push. "Now get back to work. I don't want to hear of any kids having nightmares tomorrow because I was distracting you."

He nodded in acquiescence, pausing to ruffle her hair before turning away.

Lulled by the warmth of the sand enveloping her, the familiar gold glow, and the comfort of Sandy's presence, she fell soundly asleep within the hour.

She awoke when she felt a kiss on her nose. Cracking an eye open, she blearily met Sandy's amused gaze. Noticing it was dawn, she sat up. "Wow, I wasn't planning on being out for that long." He made a book appear over his head. "No, I don't need to go back till tonight." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into hug. "You'll just have to put up with me for a bit longer, won't you?"

* * *

Fall soon passed into winter with no powers yet regained. Annamore spent all of Christmas break at the Pole, and even rode along with North on Christmas Eve as an assistant. Her emotions were becoming rollercoaster-like, and she was starting to feel as if she'd never get her wings back. The Guardians were as supportive as ever, but she sensed that a few of them were beginning to feel the same way.

One day after the New Year, snow fell all day long, leaving a couple of feet on the ground. She was feeling like she had a bit of a cold for the first time in over two thousand years, so when night came around she opted to stay inside instead of gallivanting around with Sandy. When she told him why she wasn't going that night, he indicated he might beat up Jack for the cold, making her laugh before he flew away.

Once she tried to sleep, however, she found herself suddenly unable to. She walked to the window and opening the blinds, looking out. The sky had cleared, leaving a crescent moon to reflect gently on the snow, bright enough to create shadows but not bright enough to drown out the light of the stars. Hit with an unusual amount of restlessness, she crept around the room and bundled herself up as quietly as she could, sneaking out the door and down to the outside for a walk.

Once outside, she peered intently into the night as she snuck away towards the gardens, knowing that if any of the Guardians caught her outside on a night like tonight after complaining about a cold, she'd probably be hog tied and sent to the pole for a few days.

Making it to the outskirts of gardens, she sought a bench, clearing the snow off of it gingerly with her bare hands tucked into her coat sleeves. She stretched herself out on it, facing the sky, twisting an arm up underneath her head to keep it from resting directly on the snow dusted bench. With the sky now clear, she could feel the temperature dropping even more, but she ignored that as she stared up at the moon and stars. Breathing out deeply, she paused to appreciate her frosted breath as it streamed out above her.

As she watched the stars, her thoughts roamed through her many years, as much as her eyes roamed the stars. Many had been the nights she'd laid back on her cloud just like this, to watch the sky in her loneliness. Smiling, she thought about how the past year had changed that so drastically. She'd been so caught up in her work of bringing love to others that she'd never stopped to ponder it herself. "Must have been a lucky arrow." She mumbled to herself thoughtfully.

After a few minutes of watching, a very bright shooting star shot across her view, making her sit up in surprise. Instinctively, she closed her eyes and made a wish, thinking about the stories Sandy had told her of his time piloting one himself. Opening them back up, she reached over her shoulders in hopes that maybe she'd grown wings that very moment, but she was met by nothing. Sighing, she lay back down and closed her eyes again, feeling suddenly sleepy.

She tried to open her eyes again, knowing it was far too cold out for a nap, but she couldn't seem to get anything to obey. Succumbing, she slipped into dreams as silver as the moonlight that touched her eyelids.

She awoke with a sudden shock and a gasp. It was still dark out, clouds had covered the moon again, and snow had coated her in her sleep. She stood, meaning to hurry back to her bed before she could sleep again, and stretched. She felt her wings stretch too, a sensation she'd always found wonderful. Jumped into the air, she started flying back to her dorm before it hit her.

"… You did it again, didn't you?" She shouted, her voice somewhere between elation and aggravation. She shot like an arrow into the night until she burst through the cloud cover to see the moon laughing at her. "You sneaky little bastard! That's twice now!" She shook a fist at the moon, far too pleased to mean what she said.

Performing a flip in the air she dropped back down through the clouds, hurtling with reckless abandon. Once below them, she started flying for the nearest city, looking for signs of golden dreams. Finding one, she followed it back to the source. Instead of immediately landing on Sandy's sand cloud, she flew high above it, and, plucking a single red feather from one of her wings, she let it drop down in front of him with the snow.

Smiling, she watched as he reached out and caught the feather before it could touch his cloud. He looked at it intently for a second before glancing up with shock clear on his face. When his eyes fell on her after a moment of searching the sky, she waved with an impish look on her face. Turning, she flew away as fast as her wings could take her back to the cloud cover. Glancing back, she saw that she was being pursued as hard as she'd ever been by a Nightmare. Sandy's face held a combination of wonder, bemusement, and what was hopefully mock aggravation. Seeing her look back he broke out a whip, cracking it in the air for emphasis. "Isn't that overkill?" She shouted back cheerfully.

He shook his head, obviously fighting a smile. She dodged him in and out of the clouds for a minute before he managed to catch her with the whip, pinning her wings to her body and yanking her down into his arms. They floated in the air for a minute in silence, staring at each other as they drifted back down onto the sand cloud. Finally Annamore spoke up quietly. "I don't have a cold anymore."

Nodding, he sat her down on the cloud, but instead of releasing her he grabbed the whip and used it to pull her into a kiss, fireworks of sand popping up over his head. When they broke away from each other, he let her go, but the fireworks were still going off. Looking at them, she raised an eyebrow. "Ass." When he showed no sign of being apologetic, she grabbed him and pulled him back for another kiss.


	17. This Ship Sails Itself

**As promised, a tie in chapter between this and the sequel, The Brightest Ones. This chapter is nothing but PURE FLUFF AND SPARKLES. You have been warned. It also contains about the closest thing to smut I can get so, uh, yeah. Enjoy XD I hope to see you guys over at the sequel, which is already posted. I'd also appreciate any feedback on this fic in general, especially if it highlights things I should work on getting better at. Again, thank you guys very much 3** - **Not the Milk**

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The summer after regaining her powers, Annamore sat, wings folded, with her feet dangling off the sides of Sandy's cloud. She had more power now than she'd ever had before she'd lost it, and she was only just starting to catch up with the amount of names that had appeared on her list after she returned to her work. Months of downtime had left her working overtime, and many times since returning she'd wished that she had Tooth's ability to make little fairy sidekicks to help her.

Pushing her hair to the side, she shot a quick glance at Sandy. _At least I have had plenty of moral support. _Catching her glance, he flashed a quick grin at her. She grinned back, then looked back out across the night sky. A heavy thundercloud was rolling towards them with only the speed that a summer storm could muster, and she was looking forward to the show it would offer. Unworried, at least for herself, she pointed it out to him. "Better hurry, love. This storm might cause a few nightmares of its own."

He nodded and gestured at her, a question mark appearing over his head. She huffed a little in mock offense. "A little fall of rain can't hurt me." While he turned back to his work sending out dreams, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail as the wind started picking up. Only the part still growing out from the head injury she sustained the year before resisted being pulled back, but that was on the side of her head and not liable to blow in her face. Lightning flashed as the massive cloud moved closer to where they were floating in the sky, thunder shaking the air around them a minute later.

Finishing up for this particular area, Sandy grabbed her hand and pulled her back from the edge of the cloud so he could transform it. She held up a hand to stall him, eyes sparkling. "Hey, let's do something new." He raised an eyebrow expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

"Make it a ship, complete with sails." He snorted at her and, using sand, informed her he was a pilot, not a sailor. "But it'll be fun, and I can probably manage to sail it." She argued, hoping she wasn't being too optimistic of her abilities. "I have sailed before. A long, long time ago."

Shaking his head, he lifted his arms and formed the cloud into a floating, golden ship. Clapping her hands together in excitement, she ran and took the ships wheel, steering it in the direction the wind was blowing. Chuckling at her joy, Sandy waved a hand, creating an ornate looking hat from sand and setting it on her head. "Does this mean I'm the captain?" Looking, if possible, even more pleased; she winked at him when she asked.

Sandy, playing along, made a smaller hat which he placed on his own head. "Oh, I get a first mate, too. How exciting." She paused, thinking for a moment. "Except, technically, you are the one working tonight. So where to?"

A compass of sand appeared in his hand, which he pretended to study carefully. After a few moments, he pointed off into the distance. Turning the wheel, she sent the ship flying that direction. She quickly noticed that they were flying far faster than the wind alone should have been causing them to move, but that didn't surprise her considering the creator of the ship. Slipping out of the path of the storm, they found another spot to settle while Sandy sent out more dreams.

Annamore sat patiently, resting her chin on her knees while she resisted the urge to nap. Eventually she felt a hand brush lightly against the feathers of a wing. She almost jumped, having been lost in her mind. Feeling her tense up momentarily, Sandy rested his other hand on the side of her neck to sooth her, kissing the back of her head gently at the same time. When he felt her relax a little, he slid his fingers lightly in between her feathers and scratched, lightly. She tensed up again, from shock rather than displeasure, but he didn't stop, instead bringing his other hand down to smooth out the feathers he was leaving ruffled.

She was tempted to pull away, as last time someone had messed with her wings like this she'd ended up with one broken. This touch, however, was entirely different from Pitch's. And she also loved and trusted Sandy, so she waited, trying to process the sensations she was feeling. At first touch, it was slightly uncomfortable as his fingers slid between the larger feathers, pushing them aside. Once buried in the down underneath them, though, it felt surprisingly marvelous.

She shook slightly, uncontrollably, leaving all the feathers on her wings fluffed up, which inadvertently made it easier for him to continue slowly working his way down her wing. Towards the edge of it, he stopped for a moment to slide his hand under her wing, where he began on the underside. With him bracing her with his other hand around her opposing shoulder, her wing lifted slightly on its own accord as his fingers moved beneath it, running across the softer feathers underneath. As they ran back and forth over them, her wings slowly stretched to give him better access.

Getting to the end of her wing he switched to the other side and started the same treatment on it. She ducked her head under the first wing, hiding her blushing. Finally gaining the ability to speak, she asked him with a muffled voice, "What are you doing?"

A moment later she remembered she had to look at him for an answer, but she wasn't sure she wanted to considering how hot her face felt. He stopped and pulled her wing back from her head, smiling happily, a heart over his head. His cheeks were red, too, as he turned the heart into a question mark. "Yes… I liked that. No one's ever done that to me before." She giggled a little, pulling him around into a hug. "What made you think to do that?"

He thought for a second, and imagined a chicken from sand. "What?" She started laughing. He pointed at her, then back at the chicken. "You saw me doing that to a chicken? But that was back when I didn't even remember you guys. You're such an amazing little stalker." He raised an eyebrow at her and reached for her wings again. She stopped his hand, flushing again slightly. "If you're going to continue that, you'd better be prepared for the aftermath."

He gave her a knowing look, and reached into his clothes. She stared at him, thinking back to her time spent at college and wondering if she should make a crude joke about his actions. He removed his hand quickly, holding something. He glanced around, looking slightly confused, as if wondering what to do next and hoping to find inspiration in their surroundings. Recovering his confidence, he removed the hat he was still wearing with a flourish, bowing. Ending up on one knee, he held the object in his other hand out to her. It was a ring that glowed as if it was made from dreamsand, only it was perfectly smooth. In it white stones in the shape of stars were set, and it was obvious they glowed too, with the same light as the moon.

Her heart pounding, she stared at him in shock. Pondering for a moment, she held out her hand to him. After staring at her hand for a moment, he registered the meaning of it and slid the ring on; smiling the brightest smile she'd ever seen. Recovering her own senses, she tackled him onto the floor of the ship, kissing him roughly as she did. When they sat back up again, panting, she tilted her head sideways at him. "So… You've known me less than two years. Are you sure about this?"

He took her hand, held it against his face, and with the help of his sand images told her that he had no intentions of changing his feelings, or his mind. "Just making sure." She replied happily, ruffling his hair gently. "I feel the same way. If you know beyond a doubt what it is you want, there's no need to take a few hundred years to think about it, right?"

Sandy nodded cheerfully, kissing her again playfully. "At least I know you do indeed have a plan for the aftermath." She winked at him, standing up and stretching, smoothing her ruffled feathers back down. "I think, though, that I better let you get back to work, and I need to get ready for tomorrow. See you in the morning."

She pulled him into one last kiss and, back flipping off the deck of the sand ship, flew off back to her cloud. She detoured back through the thunderstorm, which was still raging not too far away, enjoying the thrill of dodging lightning bolts.

They were married not even a year later by North, on the beach of Sandy's island. The other guardians where there, as were plenty of mermaids who had shown up to show support for their old friend, as well as other magical beings. The ceremony was simple and short, the food was plentiful and good, and everyone involved could not have been happier for the two of them.

The wedding involved a second ceremony that was no less important to anyone attending, although it came as a surprise to Annamore. During the reception, North made an announcement. "Anny, I have been talking to Man in Moon. He would like you to join us as new Guardian."

She glanced around nervously as all eyes landed on her again. "But I'm not…"

North held up his hand, forestalling argument. "Of course you are. You don't work with children normally, true, but if we called for help protecting them, you would. Right?"

She nodded mutely, a smile forming on her face. "Then you are Guardian."

The next few weeks were interesting for both of them – while they'd spent a good amount of time around each other previously, learning how to juggle living together with their opposing work schedules took a little more effort, since they had different ideas of when it was a good time to sleep. They also had to work out where they'd sleep – neither was overly inclined to giving up the rooms they'd spent so very many years in. In the end they were able to compromise happily, and they both soon adjusted to the change.

About ten years later, an even bigger change happened for them to get used to, one that they waited till the annual Christmas party to announce. They showed up with a pair of large, odd shaped bundles. Each of them was holding one. North looked at them sternly. "You know you don't need to bring gifts! That's my job!" He thumped his chest for emphasis.

Sandy and Annamore exchanged glances, both fighting laughter. "These aren't gifts, I'm afraid." She said, gently unwrapping her bundle to show her fellow Guardians as they gathered around to see. "What laid this, mate?" Bunnymund asked, reaching out and reverently running his paw over the surface of a golden egg. "Need it painted?" He added, almost hopefully.

He jumped back as Sandy's face appeared inches away from his, looking threatening while shaking a finger at the rabbit. "Whoa. Alright, no painting then." He held his paws up in surrender.

"You can't blame him." Annamore replied, now holding both eggs while Sandy backed down from his threats. "He's already gone into protective daddy mode."

"What?" Tooth's feathers ruffled in excitement over her whole body, the ones on her head rising into a crest. She flew closer, reaching for an egg. Annamore let her take one, allowing her to nestle it against her warm feathers. "This is so amazing!"

"Wait, you laid these?" Jack looked in surprise between the eggs and her. She nodded, rubbing the other egg against her face lovingly. "And let me tell you, laying an egg is not fun. Two is even worse. I don't want to have to do that again, if I can help it. Didn't even get a good warning, either. One day, I thought I was suddenly insanely bloated, the next day… I never figured I'd have to lay eggs." She shuddered at the memory slightly, wing feathers ruffling.

"But then that means…" He looked at her, then at Sandy, who was looking smug. He pointed above his head, a pacifier and a diaper appearing in sand above him. "Whoa."

"But there are two eggs?" North took the egg from Annamore and gently cradled it in his tattooed arms. He smiled happily. "This is wonderful news!"

Annamore nodded. "Of course, the real issue we are having is how do we keep them warm? Because let me tell you, having to pass them back and forth between our jobs is difficult, and it's not like we can sit on them like real birds can. Although, he does a better job of it than I do." She winked at her husband, who took the joke good naturedly.

"Sand." Tooth said absentmindedly, still staring contentedly at the egg.

Sandy questioned her. She looked up, feathers flaring for a moment as she was startled out of her reverie. "I mean, I remember a long time ago in Egypt they used to use heated sand to hatch eggs. Sand's great for conducting heat."

"Well, he knows how to make sand hot, that's for sure." Annamore muttered without thinking. When everyone stared at her in shock, she covered her mouth, turning red. Sandy tried to glare at her but looked slightly too pleased for the look to be effective.

Jack, being the youngest, was the fastest to crack up laughing. "That's what got you into this trouble in the first place." He snickered, reaching out to try to take the egg from Tooth, who was still in her own world. She gently placed it in his arms, but whispered something to him as she did. His cheeks flushed slightly pink as he looked at her, then at the egg in surprised thoughtfulness.

Bunnymund, keeping a careful eye on Sandy for fear of accidentally angering him again, offered a grin to the proud soon to be parents. "I'd love to babysit the little ankle biters sometime, once they are past the shell covered stage." He winked at Annamore. "I bet they'll be trouble, if they are anything like their parents."

She laughed, acknowledging the truth behind that. "Can't wait to meet them." She said, taking the egg from North to pass to Bunnymund so he could have his turn. "I hope at least one of them has his eyes." Sandy smiled at her, obviously pleased by that. He added his own two cents by imagining a pair of wings, making her smile back.

"Oh, that reminds me. North, have any good flashlights?" She took his arm and wandered out of the room with him so he could find her one. When they returned, she got them to turn out the lights in the room after her and Sandy took the eggs back. Holding them one at a time, she shined the flashlight through one egg shell, showing veins that ran across the eggs inside, and a dark figure that already filled over half of the egg, that kicked willfully against the shell as the light hit it. They all gasped with excitement and happiness at their first glimpse of one of the twins.

She traded eggs with her husband and repeated the treatment on the other egg. The child in this egg seemed even more excited by the light, and they could see an outline of it's hand shadowed against the inside of the shell. It let out a small flash of light, visible even with the bright flashlight shining through. They turned off the flashlight and turned the lights back on, everyone smiling at what they'd seen despite having to blink against the sudden brightness. "I think you have a little spitfire here." Bunnymund said, patting the shell of the second egg.

The rest of the night the Guardians took turns holding the eggs to allow the new parents to have a few minutes off to enjoy the party. Tooth dragged Annamore off to discuss the finer points of hatchings, before starting to interrogate her on if they had any names planned yet, or needed help getting a room ready for them. "Some of my fairies and I would be able to take a few hours off to help if you'd like." The fairy stated, looking hopeful. "That'd be great. I think you'd be better at it than I am. I'm excited, but what if I suck as a mother?" The feather-winged woman looked at her feet, wings drooping as she admitted her fear.

"You'll be fine!" North said, overhearing her worry as he walked up behind her. He clapped his hand heavily on her shoulder. "No one who's bad with kids would have been made a Guardian!"

"Says a guy who forgot how to play with kids." She shot him a grin to let him know she was teasing.

On the other side of the room, Bunnymund was sitting down on a couch, holding the pair of eggs, his face almost reverent. Jack and Sandy were standing close by having a conversation. "No, really. I mean, let's be honest, I wasn't expecting any of us to manage kids. And you… Twins? Way to go, buddy!" He held his hand out for a high-five. Sandy looked at him sideways for a moment, as if trying to figure out if he should be insulted by the surprise, but his current pride made him accept the comment, and the high-five, in the spirit in which they were intended.

He climbed up onto the couch next to the rabbit and took back one of the eggs, hugging it to himself. Bunnymund grinned. "Congratulations, mate. You did this."

"I like to think I helped." Annamore chuckled, making her way back over to sit next to Sandy, her classic hot chocolate in hand. She stifled a yawn. "They aren't even hatched yet and I'm already exhausted. I hope they don't start flying for a long time, otherwise grounding them will be impossible."

"How do you know they'll need grounding?" Tooth asked, looking slightly concerned.

"They're his children; of course they'll need it." She replied at the same moment that Sandy, pointing, implied the same thing about her, making the others laugh.

When they returned home they were able to set the eggs up in a makeshift incubator, with a little help from things that North had given them. This made their next few weeks far easier, as Annamore and Sandy worked on a nursery with assistance from Tooth, Jack sometimes swinging in to help as well, although Annamore suspected that was mostly because he wanted to see Tooth.

Finally, towards the end of the seventh week the parents were rewarded by sounds when they checked on the pair of eggs. Each taking one, they sat down on their bed, cradling the eggs against themselves to prevent them from rocking back and forth during hatching. Both had managed to punch small holes in the shells, and sounds of confusion and distress slipped out. Sandy started to grab an edge of the shell to assist his child, obviously not liking the idea of it being stuck in the egg now that it was on its way out.

"Slow down there." Annamore said calmly, stopping him. "It's better if they do this on their own, love. All we should do for now is encourage them." He nodded acceptance and looked at her expectantly. She smiled at him knowingly and started singing wordlessly to the eggs, mostly to let them know that people were waiting for them. After a tense hour, the one Sandy was holding was cracked most of the way around already. "Bunny was right, that one's going to be a spitfire all right." She looked back down at the one in her arms, which wasn't even cracked half way around yet.

Another hour went by before the baby in Sandy's egg apparently had enough. With a sudden jump the baby head butted the shell off of itself, startling both parents and herself, as she started to wail immediately. The baby was a tiny, yet slightly chubby girl with small wings of light mottled red and gold, currently darker than they should be due to still being wet from the egg. Her wispy hair, which was quickly drying to her head, revealed similar coloring while her eyes were a blue that hinted at turning to green later on.

Sandy, recovering, wrapped his new daughter in a soft blanket to help her dry. She looked like she regretted her head butting action, and once safely wrapped she started to calm down. He looked proudly at the mother. "A girl!" She beamed, staring at her daughter happily. Another hour went by before the obviously mellower second baby had finally had enough. The parents watched in shock as the shell suddenly started disintegrating, turning into familiar dreamsand. The child was revealed to be a boy, and while he almost perfectly shared the color scheme and lack of wings of his father, he was a bit lengthier than his older sister. His eyes were golden, but a different, slightly darker shade then Sandy's.

After wrapping her son in a blanket and snuggling him for a minute, she held him out to Sandy, an eyebrow raised. "I think we have another Sanderson here after that trick he pulled, what do you think?"

He traded babies with her and looked their son over, a proud smile on his face. After a minute he nodded at her, agreeing with her on the name. He pointed questioningly at their daughter.

"How does Meissa sound? It means 'the bright one.'" She replied quietly, rubbing her fingers softly over the girl's slightly patterned hair.

He thought for a minute then gave her another nod of approval, still staring at the twins in wonder.


End file.
